All We Know is Touch and Go
by WeirdyTheFangirl
Summary: Love has always seemed like a useless emotion to Rima. She's really only liked 1 boy before, and has just 'a small crush' on one currently. 'A small crush' may start transforming into said useless emotion.'.' Nagihiko can't get Rima off his mind, and he's trying to figure out how the girl feels about him without drama. He realizes there's noway to escape drama, though. RIMAHIKO.'.'
1. Monsters!

_And all we know is touch and go.  
We are alone with our changing minds,  
We fall in love till it hurts or bleeds or fades in time.  
_

_And I never saw you coming,  
And I'll never be the same._

* * *

_**RIMA'S POV**_

They're yelling again. Breaking things, but I suppose that they've moved to shattering inanimate objects simply because they've had broken hearts since they got that phone call. The phone call saying they saw a black van; that I was at the police station, slightly traumatized. Their hearts have been broken for so long; do they even have them anymore? Do they realize… I still have a heart? That mine isn't completely ruined yet, unlike theirs.

"Rima… please… smile?" Kusukusu manages. I look at her, how she wears that frown that's so rare to see from her. She reminds me of… well, me. How back in those days, all I wanted was a smile.

I forced a smile towards Kusukusu, "Sorry…" I mumble. She smiles back at me. It's strange, really, how charas can resemble their owners. Take Nagihiko for example. Rhythm has the same blue hair, and he's such a playboy, and he's so charming and…

"So _**hot**__,_" Kusukusu blurts out. I gaze at her, remembering she can hear my thoughts, though I didn't think Rhythm was _hot_. She seems to realize what she said out loud and gets a red tint on her cheekbones. "I, uh… I mean, because I heard from Daichi that he… um, has a fever…" she sputters out, obviously trying to cover her girly nonsense.

"Give it up, Kusukusu. We all know you have a thing for Rhythm." I smirk at her, causing her face to scrunch up in disapproval as it turn as red as a tomato.

"I do not—"There's a small PECK that hangs in the air for awhile. Kusukusu floats up and next to my head as we both turn on my bed to face the opposite direction, facing my room. There's another peck and I whip my head around, thinking that I saw something from my peripheral vision. I was now facing the window that was near the end of my bed. I waited a moment, thinking maybe it was just the branches rustling outside of window, or perhaps birds or perhaps…

PECK. PECK. PECK PECK. PECKPECKPECKPECKPECK….. POP… POP… BANG!

"Damn it, Kukai, that was a freaking rock, not a pebble!" I hear a muffled voice outside my window. I crawl on my bed over to my window and open it, but before looking out I turn to my door to make sure that my parents weren't going to come up for a surprise visit to say that they were sorry for being so inconsiderate and foolish, but no they continued screaming like here was no _damned_ tomorrow. I turned to face the window and there facing me was a wide grin and dark purple hair. I yelp, jumping back, but unfortunately lose my balance and fall backwards off my bed. I quickly jump up to my feet and glare out my window.

"What the CRAP, Fujisaki?" I shout. How he managed to get up to the second story window by balancing on a branch shaped like a pencil and the elasticity of a rubber band, I never have a clue, even though he does it like once a week. He just smiles at me, and that's when I realize the headphones around his neck. I knew that Nagihiko wouldn't be this preppy if he hadn't character changed. He opens his eyes from his cheeky smile and studies me. I feel my face grow red and turn away real fast so he doesn't notice. My plan was unsuccessful.

"You're blushing," he says matter-of-factly. I can tell that now he's just staring at me with no grin or smile or anything, which makes me even redder. I turn to him, probably still blushing but I give him the sharpest glare I can produce, though since he's gotten it about 4 times a day for 3 years since 6th grade, it has no _useful_ affect on him. He looks at me for a few more moments then grins. I see Rhythm appear from his hair and he sees Kusukusu.

"Yo," he says smoothly, making Kusukusu swoon for some reason. Tell me, what is so appealing about "Yo"?

I look at Nagihiko again and roll my eyes, "Give me five minutes," I mumble. He shoots me that sincerely happy grin and climbs into my room, taking his usual seat on my bed. I walk to my closet, and search through it. Without turning around to face him, I ask, "Weather?"

"Clear skies, warm air, slight breeze, 50% percent of rain, 60% humidity—" He starts with his smartass talk again.

"Kay, thanks. But I didn't ask for a full weather REPORT." I mutter. I see out of the corner of my eye Rhythm talking with Kusukusu, though she most likely isn't getting a word he's saying, since she's just staring at him all dumbfounded. She nods at whatever he's saying and I roll my eyes. How girls fall in love so easily, I'll never know.

"So… it's been about 3 minutes and you're still in your undies." He sings. I freeze from looking through my wardrobe and look down at my bare legs, a big t-shirt just skimming my mid-thigh.

"Like you've never seen me in my underwear before," I sing back, making him chuckle. Don't get the wrong idea! I mean, yeah he's the only one of my friends who's seen me with my underwear on, and yeah I didn't really mind like I would if Tadase or Kukai or Kairi saw, but… eh, shut up. He's just the one who usually comes up to get me when the gang goes out for an outing is all. And I never expect them, so I'm always in my usual night gown. Besides, we're 15 so it's no biggy; he's getting to the age where he should be more comfortable with the female body!

I finally pick out my black miniskirt and t-shirt of my favorite band "Buono!"The t-shirt has the sides from the bottom to the armpit area cut then reattached with knots, revealing only a little flesh but not so much that I look… womanly. I take off my shirt fast and then replace it with my Buono! shirt (black with pink, blue, purple, and light green lightning bolts bursting from the word "BUONO!" written in sharp writing, making it look very punk-ish) and then slid on my skirt, and sit on my bed next to Nagihiko as I slid on my long rainbow (pink, blue, purple, and light green) sox that end at my knees and then putting on my black boots. I run to the restroom, brushing through my hair fast and putting it up in a high ponytail so that my hair skims my waist. My bangs run across my eyebrows and I look in the mirror, grinning at how nice I'm lookin'. I walk out and see Nagihiko staring at me again. He was wearing jeans, a blue t-shirt, and his black sneakers and I just stare back at him for awhile, thinking that he's changed so much since 6th grade but _hasn't._It's quite weird, actually. He still has those deep brown eyes and his OMG his hair. And the same voice, thank god, but a bit deeper. However, I think he's gotten used to the fact that he's a boy and should be more… boyish. Although, he did keep his polite composure: being nice to everyone even when they're mean to him. Over the years he's just gotten more and more perfect.

We just stare for another moment until he starts to blush, causing me to blush, so he looks away, and then I think how STUPID romance is. Like a freaking black hole that you don't want to get pulled into, but EVENTUALLY, you get pulled into it! In this case, that black hole was Nagihiko and yes I have… _**slight **_romantic feelings for him, but I'd NEVER tell him that. I barely even told _myself _that.

"Let's go!" I shout enthusiastically, trying to break the awkward silence. Nagihiko cleared his throat.

"Yeah," he mumbles. He glances at the door and I totally forgot that he can probably hear my parents screaming bloody god damn murder again.

"Let's go, _now,_" I say sternly through my clenched jaw. I notice Nagihiko's character change had come undone so the headphones pop back to life and he jumps up from the bed, picks me up bridal style, then jumps from the window, landing swiftly on the ground as Rhythm and Kusukusu float down. He set's me down, and I sigh in exasperation to how I have to sneak out: getting carried by a knight in shining armor bridal style. Like, seriously, other girls just climb down the side of their house. Then again, they're normal and I'm pretty weak so I don't have the ability to do that… I turn to face the street and see everyone standing there: Amu, Tadase, Kukai, Yaya, Utau, and then Nagihiko.

I realized that Utau was the one who scolded Kukai about the rock thrown at my window. I glare at him and say, "Thanks for the boulder you hurled at my window," causing him to grin nervously and rub the back of his neck. I laugh for the first time all weekend, and we set off.

"How's it going, Rima?" Amu asks as the 7 of us walk through the street lights that line the back alley behind my house.

"I'm fine!" I say with a smile, and I catch an innocent glare from Nagihiko, telling me he knows I'm not fine since my parents were fighting again. I brush it off and look away, and Nagihiko continues his conversation with Tadase. "How about you, Amu? How's it going with Tadase?"I ask with an innocent grin, Amu pausing in her tracks and turning to me.

"I've told you a million times that everything is _fine_," Amu says firmly, I could tell she was probably annoyed since I tease her about her new relationship with Tadase all the time. Tadase looks over at her and smiles and I saw her slightly pink as she blushes on the spot, waving at him from across the back alley. Nagihiko and I look at each other and smirk at our best friend's romance and how foolishly in love they are. However, I'm the only one besides Amu, Ran, Miki, Su, and of course Dia (since she knows everything!) that Amu had feelings for Ikuto. I take that back. Tadase and Amu weren't the ones in love. Even though Amu never told me, I knew how she felt about Ikuto.

After Amu pulls herself from her own little world with Tadase, she turns to me, "When are you gonna get with Nagihiko?" I freeze and everything in my body seems to shudder.

"WHAT DID YOU SAY?!" I ask, more shocked than angry. Everyone stops and stares at me.

"I asked, 'when are you gonna get with-'" she begins nonchalantly and louder.

"Yes, I heard you! Don't repeat it!" I shriek, looking at her again.

"What'd she say?" Kukai asks, holding hands with a very red Utau. I look around sharply, my eyes catching on Nagihiko. Then I quickly realize what I did, so I look at Kukai with a questioning expression.

"What? What did who say?" I ask innocently. Acting: being able to persuade people that something did or didn't happen. The only person who can see through my acting is-

"Nagihiko, where are we eating tonight?" Tadase asks, breaking the silence since he always wants to make us feel comfortable when we're roaming the streets. Nagihiko knows the best dining since he is, like a trend setter or something.

"Pizzapopalis, I think," he says with a smile. We continue walking down the street like my yelp didn't happen, thank god.

"Yaya wants Kairi to come!" Yaya whines. Kairi had, I guess, told the others he had to study for his social studies exam, and although Yaya had the same class as him, she didn't really want to study. Kairi was afraid to ask Yaya out since he thought he was so nerdy even though since he got a new haircut he's been a Seiyo heartthrob. But he's said that about 5 months ago, so maybe he's already asked her out and they were keeping it a secret…

"Yaya, Kairi said he had to study—" Utau begins.

"YAYA WANTS TO SEE KAIRI _NOW!"_ the gleam in her eyes shows that she's threatening to throw herself on the ground and throw a fit. We turn the corner onto the actual street and start to walk on the wide sidewalk. We're still not in uptown Tokyo. We're about to walk past the back alley of Kairi's when Yaya speeds ahead and turns the corner, her long orange ponytails swinging slowing behind her as we all break into a run. When we finally catch up, Kairi's leaning out of window with very red cheeks.

"Kairi! Come on, Pizza time then we're gonna hit the boulevard!" Yaya whisper/shouts in order not to wake or disturb Kairi's sister. Kairi chuckles and looks down at her. We keep our distance and hide in a little path between Kairi's and his neighbor's house, watching to see what will happen.

"It sounds like you're quoting a Katy Perry song," he smirks. She rolls her eyes and shouts up at him.

"Get your butt down here would you?" And before we know it, Kairi jumps from his window and lands perfectly right in front of Yaya.

"Why are we—" Kukai begins, but is interrupted by Utau's hand clamping over his mouth. We all watch intently, leaning against the wall of the small alley. First is Amu, getting the best view, then me, then Nagihiko, and then next to him is Tadase and across from us on the other side of the alley are Utau and Kukai, craning their necks to get a good look.

"Where are the others," asks Kairi. Yaya moves closer to him and my stomach tightens because I know something's going on between them and it's strangely exciting.

"I think they're waiting in the street," she whispers, "So we can—" she begins, but is cut off by Kairi as he kisses her square on mouth. Utau purses her lips, trying to conceal a squeal as she squeezes her eyes shut and stomps on the ground with a huge grin on her face. Kukai's mouth drops open and he looks happy, surprised, and sad all at once.

"Yaya… wha… growing up…," he whispers. Nagihiko's smiling like he knew this would happen and Tadase's just grinning real wide with a gleam in his eyes. My stomach does a happy cartwheel as I watch them, Yaya's on her tiptoes and Kairi's bending down. His hands are on her back and her hands are clenched in fists resting on his chest. Amu's holding her breath and shaking a lot until she just can't hold it in and she squeals for about 40 seconds straight. Kairi and Yaya break apart and look around, his hands still on her back.

"What was that?" Yaya stuttered. Amu runs out into the clearing, her long pink hair following behind her.

"IT WAS ME AND SINCE WHEN WAS THIS HAPPENING?" she bellows, her whole face bright red. Looking at her, she does look incredibly crazy with the widest grin I've ever seen her have on her face. Utau shoots out of the Alley, dragging Kukai with her. She looks just as crazy Amu, but Kukai's still crying a little with a proud expression on her face. Yaya's redder than blood and Kukai looks exceedingly uncomfortable.

"Why's Amu grinning like that?" I mutter, a little bit disgusted.

Tadase snickers, "You should've seen her when I asked her out." He smirks, which is rare to see from Tadase. We finally all come out from the alley and after a lot of rambling from Yaya and Kairi we finally make our way back to the main road where a car passes every 2 minutes.

I finally realize that there is eight of us, and I'm the only one who isn't dating someone.

"Why am I the only single one out of us?" I scowl out loud. Everyone looks at me. Nagihiko laughs really loud.

"Because you're picky," he says. I give him the sharp glare I gave him earlier.

"I am not picky," I defend.

"Yes you are. You didn't except it when Yuku-san asked you out, or Ediko-san, or Yule—" he starts, making me very angry.

"That just proves that they aren't my type!" everyone's listens to our conversation back and forth.

"What is your type, then?" He asks in his naturally polite voice.

"Well, he has to be very polite. He's gotta get good grades and he should be at least a little hot, because come on, everyone likes a hot boy," I think long and hard about him, "He has to have brown eyes, and he has to have good fashion sense…" I get lost in thought and suddenly pictured a certain boy… We continue walking as I look into the distance.

_He has to have DARK brown eyes, and violet long hair and a cute smartass personality, and his name should be Nagihiko Fujisaki because even though I hate his guts, or at least sincerely want to, he's just amazing but I can't say that because of what happened to my mom and my dad and how they couldn't be happy to save their lives. Looking at them, it's pretty obvious that love never lasts…_ I start to think to myself.

"-ma! Earth to Rima! RIMA!" my thoughts are interrupted as I jump back into the conversation. I turn to Amu, who was shouting my name in my ear.

"God, what is it?" I ask. Amu looks nervous and everyone is looking at me weirdly as we stop underneath an underpass. Amu scratches her head as she leans in and whispers in my ear.

"You were kind of… thinking out loud…" she murmurs. I totally freeze and after what seems like an eternity of Nagihiko gaping at me, I scream. I just scream and shriek and then once I calm down I sit on the ground and start breathing loudly. For some reason it isn't because I just sort of said I have a small thing for Nagihiko Fujisaki in front of all of our friends, but because of my parents. They've been fighting everyday for the past 10 fucking years, you'd think they'd get tired of it. But no, my mom continues being sarcastic and my dad just keeps breaking everything in my house. They blame each other, but in all honesty… they need to grow up and blame themselves. Yes, it's not their fault that I was nearly kidnapped, but it is their fault that I grew up having trust issues and social anxiety disorder. They fight and fight and _fight._Night after night! I just remember when we were a happy family. When we could all be civilized people and have dinner together and walk in the park.

I feel my face warm up as tears stream down my cheeks and I lean against the underpass wall, turning into a ball. I feel someone bend down next to me and put an arm protectively around my back. Chills are sent down my spine as someone whispers in my ear, "It's your parents, isn't it?" and I cry even harder knowing that I couldn't even trust the boy I like, and he knows me like the back of his hand. "Oh, Rima-chan…" Nagihiko whispers in my ear again as he rubs my back soothingly. I slowly stop crying and look up at everyone surrounding us on the sidewalk. Yaya looks so heartbroken and her nose was turning red like she was about to cry. I shake my head and chuckle a throaty laugh.

"I'm so stupid…" I smile while tears dance down my face. "I'm ruining the night…"

"Rima…" Amu says. Do they know about my parents? Do they know I hate going home after school, when most kids want to just go home and nap or relax? But I can't do that, and right now I hate myself for pitying my situation but it's just so exhausting.

"You're not ruining _my_ night," Utau says, her eyes closed in that stubborn way of hers, "To be honest, it wouldn't be the same without you. You're like me, where as we have to be strong and not let our guard down. But that's nearly impossible to do all the time. Sometimes you can't be strong, and trust me, we can _try_ to control our strong moments, but we can never control our weak moments. Now get up and shake it off, and just know that we're here for you." Utau smiles as Kukai looks at her in admiration.

"That's _my_ girlfriend!" he beams proudly. Nagihiko gets up and stands in front of me, extending his hand to me. I except it, getting butterflies as I feel his hand tightly grasp mine. Once I stand up, he squeezes my hand tightly, looking at me with sorrowful eyes as we both let go of each other's hands at once.

"Yaya's hungry," Yaya says, rubbing her stomach, "I think that if we all got some pizza then we will feel happier!"

"I agree," Kairi points out. I laugh at that.

"Of course you do," I say, causing Kairi and Yaya to smile and blush.

'.'.~.'.'

_**NAGIHIKO'S POV**_

"Holy crap, it's already 2 a.m." Tadase mumbles as we all walk out of the pizzeria, our stomachs stuffed from 3 medium pizzas maxed with cheese. I looked around and saw everyone was feelings tired like me. But it was still early and I refused to let anyone ditch out or fall asleep. I character changed with Rhythm and jumped in front of the group.

"Yeah!" I yell with a sideways thumbs-up. I feel like a foolish weirdo but I jump around them; one second in front of them, the next second behind them. Tadase's cheeks puff out, and I can tell he's trying not to laugh. But air sputters out of his mouth as he starts cracking up. There's a pop and Tadase stands up straight, a little crown on his head, Kiseki standing on his shoulder, looking thoroughly satisfied and he yells, "Stop hopping around, Jack, and amuse your king!"

"Oh, crap," Amu mumbles, a little embarrassed. Uptown was practically dead now, only 5 or 6 cars passing every minute. Some people walked around the streets, mostly couples that have snuck out like us, although we're just a group of friends. I look at Rima and how she sort of just confessed to me and how I was so stupid as to not say anything back about how I feel about her… Wait, how did I even get on this subject….? Eh, anyway, Tadase was going on a rant about how he wanted to rule the world and blah blah blah something about peasants, until Amu finally just kissed him on the cheek, bringing him back to reality. The both were blushing madly and all Kiseki did was look away in disgust. Yaya and Rima were giggling, and it was impressive to see how well Rima could hide from the others how she truly felt.

How she could hide it from _the others._

I didn't realize that I was staring at her until she turned to me and I had no choice but to smile, to make sure I didn't look awkward or anything. She looked away and I didn't have a chance to see if she was blushing or not… Probably not. She most likely doesn't think of me as anything but a friend, and she was probably speaking aloud about a nightmare she had or something, because Rima isn't the kind of girl that would love a boy like me. Not that I care or anything, it's not like I like Rima like that…

Okay, might as well say it. The first time I saw Rima was when I walked Ami-chan to Amu's final battle with Utau, I stopped across the street and when I saw Rima Character Transform, I'd be lying if I said I didn't get a huge crush on her. Three and a half years later and I can't say that the crush hasn't gotten worse.

But it's a hopeless cause: She has her fanboys and, frankly, I have a lot of fangirls now that I've joined sports and I'm not too shy to Character Change with Rhythm. To make matters worse, Rhythm turns me into a major playboy, so girls actually think they have a chance.

"Why'd you Character Change?" Yaya asks me, a quizzical expression on her face. I look at all of them. We're in downtown Tokyo and most of the shops are closed, but small window lights, street lights, and the Christmas-like lights that hung through the air gave off a warm, golden brown light and a joyful, peaceful atmosphere. Cars were parked on either side of the street and the sidewalk pavement, and everyone looked rather frightened at my sudden energy boost.

"MONSTERS!" I beam at them. They all sweat drop, surely scared that I was going insane or something.

"_What_?" Utau says, slightly annoyed.

"Y'all about to fall asleep! Let's get—drum roll please!" I say, pointing to Kukai, who just stands there until he realizes that that's his cue. He drum rolls on his legs then claps, as I scream, "MONSTERS!"

Everyone stares at me until Kiseki comes forth and looks quite annoyed, "You mean the energy drink?"

I nod excitingly, but stop abruptly as Yaya starts laughing, "Nagi, where are we gonna find a store open at this time in night?" just as she says so, I point to the store that we stopped in front, the inside if the small shop casting golden light onto the sidewalk.

"Well…" Tadase begins, "Isn't that… convenient?" he looks slightly nervous as everyone eyes Yaya, who suddenly perked up at the thought.

"Oh my god, I have 20 dollars that I got from my parents for lunch money but I'll just pack instead and use the money for CANDY!" yep, everyone doesn't necessarily think this is the best idea, but to late to object she's in the shop running and rummaging through the candy aisle. "Ooo, I'll get some Pasty Pops, and OOO LOOK THEY SELL THAT AMERICAN CANDY, CHEWY SPREES OMG THESE ARE SO GOOD." She stops in front of a rectangular rainbow box with English writing on it. "No- Freaking-Way," she looks as though she might pass out. We all just decide to let Yaya be Yaya and not say anything until we buy what we want. Anyway, back to the "No-Freaking-Way".

Yaya stands there in utter shock, looking down on the candy, "N-N-N… NERDS THEY HAVE NERDS— NERDS OMG NERDS YOU GUYS THEY HAVE NERDS!"

"I don't understand, do they have nerds?" Kukai asks.

Utau elbows him in the ribs, making him laugh while clutching his side, "C'mon, Kukai, don't make this anymore painful for me!" She yells. We all laugh and get our own candy. I get some sour gummy worms. I see that Rima picks out Pocky sticks, mint chocolate flavored. She notices me staring the same time I do, and I quickly look away. We leave the store but once we're out I freeze in horror.

"We forgot the Monsters!" I yell, throwing my head back in pure exasperation.

"I'll go get them—" Rima and I begin at the same time. We look at each other and I shrug, "Okay, let's go then!" She rolls her eyes and walks through the doors, me following her. We go through the candy aisle again until we reach the back wall, lined with beverages. Rima swings open the fridge door and we start grabbing all of the energy drinks we can.

All too late, I realize we're reaching for the same one and before I know it, I'm grasping her hand. She draws in a ragged breath and time seems to literally stop for an unbearable amount of time. I finally force myself to let go and she looks away, about 8 Monsters pressed against her chest with her arms. Idiot, I think to myself. She totally thinks you're making a move on her… I feel utterly and completely embarrassed and I feel my ears, cheeks, and neck warm up.

I clear me throat. "I'm s-sorry," I stutter. She doesn't reply so I just grab 4 more Monsters, making the total drinks we have about 18. More—way more—than enough. We pay and walk outside, everyone looking dazed and decently tired, "Kay, let us go to the sunset hill!" I yell enthusiastically. Yaya pumps her hand in the air to show agreement and Tadase shrugs, so we walk down the street until the city lights fade behind us. We finally get to the long dirt road and we all walk, basically half asleep, to the end of the road, none of us talking much except to make comments on how nice the weather was this morning. We finally arrive at the hill and sit down, Kukai leaning against the tree that's atop it and the rest of us sitting on the sweet smelling grass. We all pop open our own monsters and within 2 minutes we're all fully awake. Well, except Yaya, who's climbing the tree and hanging upside down from here legs. She's just rambling on about her baby brother or something.

"You guys," Utau sings, "Truth or dare time!" she has the devilish smile on her face as the rest of us groan. But Yaya hops down and smiles.

"Yeah, yeah!" She yells in agreement, "Everyone in a circle!" when nobody moves, she claps her hands, "Ace says get a move on, slackers!" so we all reluctantly get in a circle. Utau goes first.

"Hmmm… Hm. Hm. Hmm," She takes her dandy old time, "Ah, Tadase!" Tadase looks utterly terrified when she chooses him, "Truth… or Dare?"

"A, uh, um… truth." He mumbles. Utau roles her eyes in disapproval but continues.

"Is it true that… Nagihiko forced you into a skirt?" She bursts out laughing along with Amu and Yaya as Tadase, Kukai, and I turn bright red.

Kukai growls, "I told you not to bring that up!"

"Hmph, yes it's true…." Tadase mutters, causing everyone to laugh that time, "Oh great, it's my turn…"

Everyone seems somewhat relieved because Tadase isn't the scandalous type, "I choose Kairi," Tadase says with a smile, Kairi looking happy, "Truth or dare?"

"…dare,"

"I dare you to…" Tadase thinks for awhile and I chug down the rest of my monster, and go to get another one, popping of the top, "I dare you to…. Say your true feelings about everyone in the group." Kairi shrugs in agreement.

"Okay… Tadase, you're pretty nice… Kukai, you're cool and you bring out the youth in everyone… Nagihiko helps with my relationship problems, since he was the only one who knew about Yaya and me… and Utau is the same as Kukai, but she's like a sister because we basically kind of grew up together… Amu's really enthusiastic, and Rima…" He has to think for awhile, so everyone starts laughing, "Rima, you're very, very, _very_, VERY, VERRRRY"

"Yes, we get it!" Utau yells.

"Rima, you're super funny… And then there's… er, Yaya." He mumbles and the two become flushed again, "Yaya, you're very pretty and I'm happy to be your best friend that gets to kiss you, next okay Nagihiko truth or dare?" I jump at the sound of my name.

"Hmm? Oh, truth!" I beam.

"Is it true that you used to like Amu," Kairi asks, "when you were Nadeshiko?" I turn pale as I remember my feminine past, and how I'd jump up and down and swoon over girly things… bleck…

"Uhhhhh," I freeze for a second, not quite sure on how to answer that, "There was a small time before I left that I… uh, I had a small crush on her… in Nadeshiko form," Everyone starts laughing, but Amu just smiles like it was an accomplishment that I liked her when I was a girl, "Okay, Amu, truth or dare?" Amu looks at me, kind of shocked.

"Well, I'll do dare," She says with a smile.

"I dare you to kiss Tadase," pause for effect, "on the _lips_!" Everyone oooooouuuuuuu's as Amu and Tadase's faces turn slightly pink.

Amu shoots me a glare and I shrug, "Fine…" she mumbles, causing Tadase to turn even brighter. Then she turns to face him and then she leans in and what I expected to be a peck on the lips turned out to be a very long kiss. At first Tadase just looks shocked but then his eye lids close and he starts kissing her back and Yaya looks so proud. You could just tell by looking at them that they've kissed like that at least one time before.

"You guys…" Utau mumbles, "You guyyyys," but they just keep kissing, "OKAY YOU GUYS!" and they break apart.

"Hmm?" Tadase asks in a daze. Then he turns crimson and laughs nervously, "Ahaha, sorry…" and he backs away from Amu, who looks rather flustered and happy.

"Rima!" Amu grins, and I see that Rima nearly passes out. Amu's truth or dares are almost always… well, outrageous, "Truth or dare?"

"Dare," Rima mumbles. My stomach turns as Amu grins at me and I shake my head wildly at her. She just nods and turns back to Rima. Oh god, here it comes.

"I dare you to tell us your ideal man…" Amu looks at me again, but I'm rather relieved that she didn't dare Rima to do anything with me… And even if I wasn't THAT relieved, at least I'm a good actor.

**RIMA'S POV**

"I dare you to tell us your ideal man," Amu says. Immediately images of Nagihiko flash threw my mind, making me loath myself and the stupid cross dresser…

"I already did on the way to get Pizza," I blush, remembering my meltdown, "and that didn't end very well, now did it?"

"No," Amu says, "But we still don't know your actual feelings… Was what you said true?"

"What?" I ask, slightly confused.

"Do you…" She leans into my ear so no one can hear, "Is Nagihiko seriously your type?" I feel my face heat up again.

"W-well…" I begin, "Um, m-maybe…" Amu smiles.

"Okay, Rima's turn," Amy says. Everyone groans.

"Hey, no fair! We didn't get to hear her response!" Kukai yelps.

"Utau, truth or dare?" I ignore him, grateful that Amu didn't make that embarrassing for me.

"Dare, duh!"

"I dare you to…" I think for a moment until I get a pretty good one, "Interact how Kukai asked you out!" Kukai sputters out his monster.

"What?!" He shrieks.

"Okay," Utau shrugs.

"UTAU!" Kukai argues.

"'Oh Utau," she begins in a squeaky voice, unlike Kukai's, "'you didn't tell me that Ikuto called you! Now I'm very jealous!" She makes a grumpy face.

"Utauuuu," Kukai whines.

"Now you get a punishment, tsk tsk tsk!"

Kukai turns bright red as we all look shocked at how the older kids did things. Kukai just moans and decides to let her go on.

"Mh, mh, mh. You know I get to kiss you nowww, " Utau finish's with a big kiss on Kukai's mouth. When they finally pull away Kukai looks at us.

"Now, now, she called me a kid 3 times even though she said she wouldn't anymore," he says, "So she had to get disciplined… you had to be there to understand."

"I don't think any of us wanted to be there," Nagihiko mumbled.

We continued to play truth or dare until all the monsters and the candy is gone. After several kisses and many crimson cheeks, we finally decided to just relax for a bit… until there's a rustling in the tree. I see Amu, Tadase, and Utau stiffen.

"Yo."


	2. Flashbacks

_WeirdytheFangirl- Hey! Bianca here!_

_Rima- What the hell was that in the last chapter? I do not like Nagihiko!_

_WeirdytheFangirl- Oh please, the Nile isn't just a river in Egypt!_

_Rima- *dark aura surrounds her* was that supposed to be a joke?_

_Amu- Calm down Rima! Oh yeah, disclaimer: WeirdytheFangirl doesn't own Shugo Chara! (sadly) If she did then Kukai and Utau would be hella canon, blahblahblah…_

_WeirdytheFangirl- AMU! HELP ME!_

_Amu- It's your fault for making a bad joke!_

_Rima- Nagihiko, the naginita?_

_Nagi- H-ere you go Rima-chan…_

_WeirdytheFangirl- Noooooooooo, let me just write the story!_

* * *

_****And all we know is touch and go.  
We are alone with our changing minds,  
We fall in love till it hurts or bleeds or fades in time.  
_

_And I never saw you coming,  
And I'll never be the same._

* * *

_**NAGIHIKO'S POV**_

"_Now, now, she called me a kid 3 times even though she said she wouldn't anymore," he said, "So she had to get disciplined… you had to be there to understand."_

"_I don't think any of us wanted to be there," I mumbled._

_We continued to play truth or dare until nearly all the monsters and the candy were gone. After several kisses and many crimson cheeks, we finally decide to just relax for a bit… until there's a rustling in the tree. I see Amu, Tadase, and Utau stiffen._

"_Yo."_

'.'.~.'.'

"Ikuto!" Amu exclaimed. Tadase smiled at Ikuto.

"Hello, Ikuto-niisan!" He beamed. Tadase rarely got to see Ikuto, and he did honestly miss him as a brother. He'd always talk about him, and how he wished he were around more often so they could hang out. What's strange is that Tadase is oblivious to the fact Ikuto was obviously in love with Amu.

"Hey kiddy king," Ikuto said smoothly, trying not to show a trace of emotion in his voice like he always managed. But I could hear right through it: he was happy to see his sister, 'brother', and Amu; happier than he wanted to admit.

"How's dad?" Utau asked. She'd always said she hated her dad, but ever since Ikuto found him when we were in 8th grade, she would not shut up about him.

"He's cool," Ikuto mumbled, and then suddenly a smile crept onto his lips, "He's been teaching me techniques on the violin!" And just for a second, you could here the little boy in him come out. Then a smirk shone again, "Truth or dare, eh? Anyone gonna give me a dare with Amu? I am getting hungry," Ikuto purred, winking at Amu. Amu turned completely red; almost maroon. Actually, she was maroon. In a split second she was up and chasing around Ikuto, yelling things like 'perverted cat cosplay boy,' or 'I'm only 16 you weirdo!' I heard Rima laugh, and my insides basically felt weightless. The reason I knew when she was faking a smile or not was that the true smile always glowed brighter. My heart leapt into my stomach and all the blood seemed to gush to the pit of my gut and I just hoped my pupils didn't dilate. Oh my god that was a scary feeling… Like all you wanted was to make her happy but also you didn't want to look away from her. I reluctantly tore my eyes from her to look back at the scene, Tadase character changed with Kiseki and I sweat dropped as he chased Ikuto down the hill and into the streets, Amu screaming and running behind them; her long pink hair whipping in the wind. She would not have this energy at sunrise (oh look, it was already dawn!) if I hadn't suggested Monsters!

"You're welcome for the energy boost, Hinamori!" I shouted at them, Amu turned and yelled thanks before running into an alley after her two love interests. I looked around at the remaining group. I saw Utau and Kukai having a chugging contest with the Monsters, which probably wouldn't agree with their stomachs later. Yaya, as surprising it was, was passed out, her cheek smooshed against Kairi's shoulder. There was a loud grumbling sound and I looked at Rima. She turned red as she noticed that all of us heard her stomach.

"Hungry?" I asked. Rima looked at my skeptically for awhile.

She was reluctant to answer, though she did, "…Maybe…"

"Hey guys, I gotta take Yaya home," Kairi said softly, "I'll see you on Monday." And he quietly woke up Yaya for her to get on his back for a piggy back ride. Once she was securely on, her hands on either side of his neck and her face resting on his shoulder with Kairi holding her legs, she quickly fell back asleep and he began to walk off.

The sky was a pale pink with dark blue to the west. I looked at my watch: it was 6:00. Wow, we've been out for a long time. Kukai yelled in victory, but Utau just smacked him on the back of the head playfully.

"I let you win…" She mumbled, "But I'm hungry!" She exclaimed, fully awoken due to the Monsters. Rima groggily rubbed her eyes and nodded. I went to the monster pile, opened one, and handed it to her with a friendly smile. (_**Hey, it's me, the author. I DO NOT recommend drinking over 2 Monsters at a time because you will feel like shit and may end up in the ER! Thank you, you may continue!)**_

"Here, this should wake you up," I smiled, a little tired myself. She seemed shocked at first, but after another skeptical glare, she accepted. She mumbled a thanks and Kukai growled.

"Man, I could seriously go for some pancakes right now…" he frowned, and I guess he forgot that it was the middle of the morning and plenty of breakfast restaurants were open. I nearly face palmed.

"Kukai, you idiot, we can just go to the pancake house! Yah derp," Utau offered as her and Kukai jumped up and rubbed their stomachs. I was sitting close to Rima since I got her that monster, and as soon as I realized our feet were touching that terrifying feeling came back. Rima's stomach rumbled again and she took another long drink. My head spun and I tried to convince myself not to look at her… Not to look at her…

I looked at her. Wow her hair is long even in a ponytail. And her eyes are so caramel and big and beautiful…

I shook it off and tried to push the thought of Rima, who was consuming my thoughts, out of my mind. I got up as well and offered a hand to Rima, who was gulping down her monster. She took it with her free hand and stood up. Kukai and Utau were hopping around happily, ready to eat. Suddenly, Rima tensed and I saw that I was still holding her hand. I flushed red. Gosh, when did I even start liking her?

_**Flashback Water Rippling Thingy That They do in the Cliché Movies**_

Oh are we doing this? We're doing a Memory Chapter? Okay, and then let's start with the day I arrived as Nagihiko!

"You see… Amu-chan doesn't want to see me… She wants to see Nadeshiko…" I mumbled to Tadase and Kukai, rather sad that the girl I liked didn't even know me but she did… It's hard to explain… Suddenly there was a gasp from behind me.

"A-Amu-chan," I sputtered, turning around to see her shocked face. She was really pretty and once I got passed her outer ego and saw her true self, just like I manage to do with everyone, she was actually such a good person.

"Nadeshiko," she said, barely over a whisper, "…No… Nagihiko…?" I froze there for a second, dumbfounded because I hadn't seen her in so long and my heart did flips in my chest. What do I say? What do I do? Suddenly she was all up in my grill.

"Long time no see! How've you been?" She exclaimed. Wow, she has nice eyes, I thought. No, Nagihiko, get a hold of yourself! Act, act, act… Smile, there you go…

"F-Fine!" I smiled back at her. Her eyes were full of amusement. Crap, I thought, Tadase and Kukai don't know about my lie!

"You know about him?" Kukai questioned, a little shocked. Amu looked at him quizzically for a second.

"Nagihiko? He's Nadeshiko's older twin brother." Amu replied like it was nothing. Tadase and Kukai looked baffled.

"Twin?" they asked then they glared at me. I couldn't help but sweat drop. A noise I can't even describe escaped my mouth… something between a whimper, a croak, and a nervous laugh. Amu got in my face, her cheeks flushed with excitement.

"Hey! Hey, why are you wearing our uniform, huh?" She beamed, "Are you transferred here?!" she asked a question with a pretty obvious answer, but that was one of the things that I thought were cute about her.

A confused look played on her face, "Eh? You're even wearing the Guardian cape…?" Amu mumbled. Well Amu, that probably means I'm a guardian now, huh? I'd just realized I'd been sweat dropping frequently through out the entire conversation. Another whimper/croak/nervous laugh erupted from my mouth and I have to say I looked a little constipated…

Then Kukai did his signature neck bro hug thingy, "That's right Hinamori!" No, Kukai, don't! "You see, he's actually—"

"—the new Jack's Chair!" Tadase beamed, clapping his hands energetically. Tadase, not you, too! I gave him the most outraged look I could muster, which honestly wasn't that angry. Amu gasped and then… Well, cue the kira kira attack.

"No way!" she leaned in, sparkles surrounding her. My heart speed picked up and I found it hard to speak, "For real?!" She beamed. I looked constipated again -_-;

"K-g-yhkd—" I couldn't speak! Talk you idiot, talk!

"Oh, so _her_ sparkle attack works…" Kukai mumbled. Oh, you're so dead later, I thought. But I couldn't even think properly, I just smiled like a moron and my eyes looked awkward: a fake smile to cover up my weirdness. Amu rambled on about how they were useless without Kairi and how they totally needed a new Jack.

"Oh boy, I gotta tell the others! Gotta go!" She then ran off. All I could say was,

"ok…. **WHAT AM I DOING?!" **

"The new Jack is born!" Kukai and Tadase laughed.

"Guys! What the—"

"Calm down, Nadesh—I mean Nagihiko," Kukai laughed.

"Listen," Tadase said and I looked at him, "We have to worn you about the new queen…" oh great, I bet she's a bitch, I thought. Haha, stupid little Nagihiko….

"What is it?" I whined a little exasperated.

"She has a hard outer shell," Tadase said seriously. So, I broke threw Amu's didn't I? "Fujisaki-san, I know what you're thinking but this girl's exterior is much harder than Amu's… but she likes comedy so don't tamper with it… Though, she does find it embarrassing; don't bring it up in conversation very often… and don't try to steal Hinamori-san from her. Also, she's an excellent actress." Actress huh? This girl sounded like a total dork, but since I'm nice Nagihiko, I was sure I'd find the true beauty in her!

We began to walk to the Royal Garden. Once we entered, all eyes were on us. I saw Yaya and Amu, and then another girl. She was stunning. More so than Amu, and I could tell right away that she just locked up her façade when she saw us enter. I'd seen her somewhere before. She sparked a memory. We locked eyes and I could see right through her exterior ego. Actors can do that sort of thing, especially when you're a good one. She was somehow broken… maybe a family problem? I decided right then and there that no matter what, I was gonna break through that girls shell. She looked away like nothing happened. What an actress… Could no one else really see through this cover-up? I shook it off and went to stand near the table. Amu had just gotten done telling Yaya about me being Nadeshiko's 'brother'.

"Ehh? Nadeshiko has a twin brother?" she whined. I couldn't suppress a smile: still hyper active and babyish "Amu, you kept it a secret! No fair!"

"Now, now, introductions!" Tadase said. (AN: This isn't in the manga nor the anime so don't get confused: it's just an extra)

"Hitori Tadase, King's Chair," he said with a smile, standing from his chair, "this is Kiseki. But you already know me…" I nodded as he sat down.

The beautiful girl stood up. I remember seeing her when I helped Ami find Amu and I couldn't stop thinking about her for like 3 days. That was the memory; I smiled as it all came back to me… Wait… could she be… "Mashiro Rima, Queen's Chair," she looked bored. Her voice was small and fragile, like she rarely talked to anyone, and when she did, it was just a few words crammed into a sentence. I winced; wow, it'll be hard to get to know her. Don't ask how I knew, I just did! I couldn't believe this girl liked comedy and theatre, "This is Kusukusu," a small blonde Chara appeared from behind Rima's back and giggled. She had on a jester suit. This is Rima's would-be-self… that means that she could be happy and… well, non-stubborn… I smiled at the Chara then at her owner.

"Hello Rima-chan," I smiled. Her expression didn't even twitch.

"Mashiro-san," She said. Her voice was still very small, the lightest it could get before being considered a whisper. I sweat dropped.

"Eh?"

"We just met: it's Mashiro-san until I say so. And hello nice to meet…" she trailed off and slumped back in her seat. Goodness, she looked like she'd rather die then be there.

"Yaya's turn, Yaya's turn!" Yaya jumped straight out of her chair, "Yuiki Yaya, Ace Chair, this is Pepe-chi!" Pepe appeared and rolled around in the air like a new born baby, "Yaya likes to eat candy, and draw candy, and candy candy, and be a baby eating candy!"

"Nice to meet you, Yaya-chan," I smiled at her as well, and got much better feed back then from Rima, who was snoozing on the table.

"Can I call you Nagi I think I'll call you Nagi YAY Nagi, Nagi, NAGI!" She screamed… Well, she'd gotten scarier over the time I'd gone.

"Hinamori Amu, Joker Chair. These are Ran, Miki, and Su. But you already know that!" She giggled. I smiled; she was much better at showing her feelings than some blonde in the room… Amu sat down and we all started talking among our selves. Ran, Miki, and Su floated towards me sheepishly.

"Nagi, do you have a chara, too desu?" Su asked. I smiled gently and pulled out my blue egg, identical to Temari's but not pink.

"He hasn't hatched yet," They stared at it in awe.

"Wow, even the eggs are twins!" Ran exclaimed.

"I wonder what he'll be like…" Miki added thoughtfully.

"It looks a lot like Nadeshiko's egg, desu!" Su beamed.

"Who is this Nadeshiko person?" I heard a small voice, belonging to 'Mashiro-san'. I turned and saw her talking to Tadase and Yaya.

"She was the previous Queen's Chair," Tadase said. I couldn't help but feel awkward about the memory of being a cross-dresser and still being one. Rima looked down and mumbled something in her throat. I turned back to Miki, Ran, and Su.

"New Jack," I got goose bumps when she said that in her cute little voice. I turned and smiled at her kindly: I was naturally nice, I couldn't help it. Plus, she's beautiful: it's hard not to smile when looking at her! Like Amu-chan… well, that what I was thinking back then. Obviously I don't think that anymore, considering Ri… ah, never mind.

"Hmm?"

"Can you even be a Guardian without a Guardian Character?" she asked in an innocent voice and a blank expression once again.

"Um, well…" I didn't know how to explain it; I couldn't just tell her about Temari and Nadeshiko.

"It's alright! After all, Fujisaki-san did use to be the Que-ehhh—" I grabbed my best friend's cheeks.

"What's wrong King? Your cheeks itch?" I asked Tadase, whose face looked awkward. I glanced back at Rima who was 'chiiii-ing' and giving me the death glare that I would come to know so well. But right then I realized I wasn't thinking about Amu, like I usually did! Hooray for me!

"Nadeshiko is studying abroad right now you see but she was Amu-chi's best friend in her class!" Yaya said rather quickly. I let go of Tadase's cheeks and turned to look at Amu, who was sitting in between Rima and I. Rima was facing us, a faint look of amusement on her face. Just that little twitch of her lips seemed to light up the room… Then it disappeared as soon as it came.

Her expression turned deadly, "Best friend?" she said flatly. Rima tugged on Amu's sleeve. I watched, wondering what would happen. I leaned on my fist, my elbow on the table. Rima's eyes turned to stone.

Amu turned around and looked at Rima, who was wearing a convincing depressed face, "I'm also the Queen's Chair, and in the same class…" her voice was getting shaky, "Why am I not your best friend?" then here comes Niagara Falls. Oh heck no, I thought, you may be cute but you cannot guilt trip my crush like that.

"R-Rima!" Amu said, worried.

"Don't worry. She's just faking," I said in a flat tone, glaring at Rima.

The tears seemed to instantaneously evaporate from her face as though they were never even there as her eyes snapped up to look at my glare, "Oi," a glare with even more malice in it meeting mine, "How did you know?" I smiled at her.

"I'm quite good at theatrics as well, eh?" I said. This girl was quite entertaining to be around; I could see why Kusukusu was born.

"Chiiii…" Rima glowered skeptically at me, a look that I learned to not be fazed by over the years.

.'*'.'*'.'*'.

Yaya cheered for me while Kukai and I kicked around a soccer ball. Rima was sitting with Yaya but just staring intensely at me. I couldn't kick the ball right; I couldn't focus! All I felt were those eyes on me…

.'*'.'*'.'*'.

"Amu-chan truly is amazing…" I said as I watched Amu use 'Heart Speeders' for the first time. She whizzed through the sky. I quickly shook the feeling and concentrated on holding down the rocket ship with the tightropes. I looked around; everyone was working hard to make sure it didn't escape. My eyes caught on Rima who looked like she was having the most trouble holding it down.

"Rima-chan," I said. She just pulled down harder as I stared at her. She has good self discipline… I smiled and grunted while looking away. I pulled down on the ropes with all my strength. Rima-chan could be amazing, too, I thought.

.'*'.'*'.'*'.

Tadase and Kukai wouldn't let me forget that I did a nice job instructing the plan to purify the ? egg.

"With Nagi here, everything worked out great!" Yaya squealed.

"You think?" Rima asked, not convinced I did much.

"You did great, too, Hinamori!" Kukai said, messing up Amu's hair.

"Kukai, you'll mess up my hair!" Amu laughed.

"Fujisaki-san, you really helped us today," Tadase pointed out.

"It was the least I could do as Guardian since I don't have a chara yet…" I said modestly. Rima suddenly appeared with that stubborn, bored look on her face again.

"I guess I have no choice but to allow you to be Jack," Rima sighed. Suddenly Rima's expression hardened, "But," she covered Amu with her arms spread, "NO getting close to AMU!" She yelled. I sweat dropped.

"Eh?" Amu asked, cutely confused, "Come on Rima," she tried. I stared at them, or rather at Rima… what a strange girl. She was rather jealous. I smiled at that, "Rima are you jealous?" Amu asked.

"What? No!" Rima was absolutely appalled by the idea. Amu was convinced, but I wasn't.

.'*'.'*'.'*'.

I was walking down the hallway. I saw Amu and immediately ran over to her, just to talk. Once I got closer, though, I saw a short blonde. Rima. I politely said hello when suddenly… Well, a mob of girls surrounded Amu and I, not knowing that Rima was there, and started commenting on how Amu and I were a cute couple. I didn't understand this, because even though I had a huge crush on Amu, I never considered dating her. Rima then marched away, anger evident in the way her fists were curled. I stared after her, forgetting about the fangirls and Amu for second. What just happened?

.'*'.'*'.'*'.

I saw Rima in the center of the mall room looking up at the towering Christmas tree. The reason that she sincerely disliked me had me baffled. I was nice and charming towards her, as well as everyone else. I walked over to her so that I was behind her, about a foot separating us.

"Beautiful isn't it?" I asked her. She didn't make a snarky comment or cringe in disgust, and it made me overjoyed to realize that her wall failed to go up when I spoke. Maybe I was getting to her…

.'*'.'*'.'*'.

Or not.

I held my left hand in my right, surprised that she'd smacked me. Anger swelled my chest.

"You act like you know everything about her!" She snarled, "Ugh! You make me so mad." Oh, little girl, you don't know the half of it! I did know nearly everything about her; I was Nadeshiko, her best friend after all! Electrical glare met electrical glare as Amu appeared out of the bushes she'd flown into. She looked baffled.

"What happened when I was gone?" She asked in a scared, small voice.

.'*'.'*'.'*'.

As I ran around trying to distract the eggs, her words echoed in my head, stinging like nothing before. "_You don't even have a Chara; don't tell me what to do!" _I didn't know why they bothered me so much, but they hurt more than I ever thought words could. Maybe it was because I lost Temari and I was more alone than I'd ever been.

She was more dependent than she could handle. She couldn't take on the eggs by herself; I had to help her, Chara or no Chara. I just had to know how. Suddenly, time seemed to slow down as they shot X energy at her. She winced, waiting for the impact. Without a word, I ran towards her. The next thing I knew I was getting hit with a terrible, aching feeling. Rima looked utterly shocked. Damn my good nature and polite manner. Although… I didn't think that I protected her just because of my kind persona.

.'*'.'*'.'*'.

"Amu-chan! Rima-chan! Good job—ah!" I fell into a hole that'd I'd dug earlier that day in the middle of running to them. The plan that we'd had before we went to the mall was to dig those pits, have Amu fall in them repeatedly, and then get Rima to laugh. She seemed to be in a funk, and I was just getting to know why. Rima walked over and looked in the hole, as she started to laugh. Then, much to my surprise, she reached down a hand while still smiling. I smiled the most sincere smile that had been on my face in a long time. Her laugh was like music, sweet and smooth. I grabbed her hand and this strange feeling reached my stomach. A feeling I didn't recognize. I squeezed her small hand in my larger hand and did something that was sure to surprise her. I pulled her in. She glared at me but all I could do was smile at her as Amu fell in the hole next to us.

"There. Now we're even," I insisted. I was teasing her, but only in a way that she knew. If you were to listen to any argument we had, it'd sound like her arguing with a wall.

Oh yeah, this year was going to be fun as long as I had Rima to pick on, I thought. I was actually severely correct.

.'*'.'*'.'*'.

"Yaya knows Rima likes cake Yaya loves cake wow this is exciting partaaaaaay!" Yaya blabbed on as we started to set up for her birthday party for Rima. I got butterflies as I looked at the present I'd gotten her: a Bala-Balance porcelain collector's item. It took me nearly forever to get, and I'd dedicated plenty of my time to guarantee that the wrapping was straight and perfect. I'd been checking on it all day, making sure the ribbon didn't come undone, or that the wrapping paper didn't rip. I wasn't ready to tell anybody that I had a crush on her now. Nobody in the school, with the exception of Tadase, could contain a secret for more than 24 hours. That definitely includes Amu. I was just setting up the streamers with a small smile on my face when Yaya said words that nearly made my heart stop.

"Yaya wonders if that boy that Rima was staring at is coming they seem close!" I jumped down from the ladder we borrowed from Tsukasa, my hair swaying as I landed swiftly on my feat. I must have startled Yaya because she jumped back.

"Rima-chan likes someone?" I asked in a high pitched voice.

"Whoa there, Nadeshiko," Yaya chuckled. I inferred that my question must have been higher than my usual voice, "Yaya doesn't know if Rima-tan likes him, but Yaya knows something scandalous happened, yep, yep, something delicious!" I sweat dropped at the last part, but quickly regained my composure. Oh boy… I'm not one to deny my feelings, and I knew this emotion that irrupted into my chest like a roaring lion. It wasn't a healthy feeling, either.

Jealousy.

"Is Nagi-chi jeeeealous? Because Yaya thinks you're jealous and I'm pretty good with things like that ya know oh look at that wow!" Yaya cheered, looking at something out the window. I blinked for a second, a little scared at her exceedingly hyper charisma today. She flinched and turned to me again, "Are you jealous, Nagi?" she asked again, a little more subtle. I sighed, since I thought I'd escaped answering the question when she got distracted by something from outside. Okay Nagihiko, I told myself, time to ACT!

"Eh Heh. No. In fact, I'll help the poor fellow. What's his name?" I asked rather politely. Yaya tapped her chin, looking into the distance as if she was deep in thought. Then she turned to me and shrugged. I held in a sigh and asked what he looked like.

"Um… Yaya saw he had brown hair the hair was spiky in the back he wasn't really that cute but I've seen him in sports before oh hey aren't you in sports, too, maybe you know him wow small world!" Immediately a picture of Kirishima-san popped into my head. I laughed nervously. Honestly, I had too many girls that followed me around to even keep track of. Kirishima-san had a small fanbase, but it was nothing compared to mine. Hell, my fan base has only grown since then!

Anyway, it was a shame since Kirishima was a cool person to small talk with. To bad I can never talk to him again. I'm kidding. If he made her happy then hey, I was happy.

Right.

I'm serious.

Okay, maybe not.

He could NOT have Rima.

Now, I know you're probably thinking that I was a bit extreme considering that I only had a CRUSH on Rima-chan, but I was passionate about that sort of thing. I'd only LIKED one girl before, and that was Amu. Who stayed the night at my house.

Which may have been a little weird…

But still, I'd only had a crush on 2 girls in my entire life. So yeah, this was sort of a big deal for me.

Just when I started to get a little mad, Tadase and Amu walked into the door. They must have kept Rima in the classroom for now.

We started to arrange all the decorations and I settled the roses on the table. I started to feel better, and a little selfish. I almost got mad, and that may have lead to the ruining of Rima-chan's birthday party.

Amu opened a box she'd carried to the Royal Guardian that morning. She pulled out a delectable looking cake.

If you're asking yourself if I still liked Amu then here's your answer.

Yes.

I was a naïve little boy, who was confused at the time. If it helps at all, I was starting to get over her, but still treated her like I always did.

Everyone complimented the cake, making Amu blush and insist that it wasn't a big deal. She just happened to get up early and bake a cake that said 'Happy Birthday Rima' on it. Heh. Sure.

Kusukusu flew off to Rima. Just as she was leaving, I saw the door open and in walked… Fuyuki Kirishima. I didn't get all 'Stay away from her or you die' or anything. I mean, for peetsake, I was Fujisaki Nagihiko. The kindest, with, once again, the exception of Tadase, boy in Seiyo Elementary; I'd have to be severely high to do something so out of character. He looked flushed, like her was flustered. That bothered me a little, but I shook the feeling off and had the urge to be nice. To everyone. Always. Yaya noticed him and looked up, stealing a quick glace at me, probably not convinced that I wasn't jealous.

"Kirishima-kun, what are you doing here?" I asked in a confused voice. Seriously, what was he doing there?

"You know him, Nagi?" Yaya asked in an equally confused manner. I looked at her and she winked at me with the eye that wasn't facing Kirishima-kun. Wow, it seemed Yaya was smarted than she appeared, but that didn't mean I was going to actually tell her I liked Rima. Yaya wasn't a bad actress either. She was keeping it together, actually being convincing that I'd never brought him up before.

"Sure! He's Fuyuki Kirishima-kun," I replied, going along with the whole act, "We're in the same class," I added. "Do you need the Guardians for something?" I asked politely. His face flushed with determination.

"I just... have a question for you, Fujisaki." He informed. I was doing very well with the entire acting façade, Yaya as well.

"Could it be about Rima?" Amu asked rather nonchalantly. I glanced at her for a split second, her words catching my attention. I quickly looked back at Fuyuki, who looked frightened when she said that and turned even redder. I held back a nervous chuckle that tried to escape from my chest.

He looked down at his hands, fidgeting. This guy was a mess, either from love or… mental dismay.

"Well, uh… I sort of uh…" he sputtered out, concentrating on his feet, "I MIGHT of given Rima-chan a… uh… love letter?" Amu and Yaya perked up. Yaya got that look in her eye that she got when she thought Romance was blossoming. So much for her sticking by my side, I thought.

"Eh? You gave Rima a love letter?!" They practically screamed at him, causing him to cower slightly.

"Yeah." He simply answered. All of the Charas looked absolutely scandalized. Even Kiseki seemed interested and flustered to learn more. Amu got up in Fuyuki's face once again, but he didn't notice, his eyes were fixed on something on the ground. I just stood next to him, my polite expression on my face. I thought that to make my look more convincing and surprised, I should raise my eyebrows a smidge. There you go ;)

"How did she react?!" Amu yelled at his face. He sighed disappointedly.

"It's been over 2 weeks and she still hasn't replied…" He said weakly. I tilted my head, suddenly interested, "And she's been… uh… ignoring me. I'm too nervous to ask her about it…"

Just to see what would happened, knowing the outcome of my actions would lead to him protesting my idea ideally, I asked him, "What if I asked for you?"

"Don't!" He yelled at me. I tried my hardest to maintain my arrogant expression and not laugh at him. It was harder than usual, but I managed. It was rude and impolite, so I couldn't do that. "I gave her the letter because I didn't have the courage to tell her face-to-face…" go figure, "But I want another chance to tell her how I feel. To her face this time.

It's Mashiro-san's birthday today, correct? I planned on giving her a present and then confessing to her, but at the moment I chickened out and missed my chance." He mumbled. Then he abruptly turned to me, making me jump back. For a split second I actually thought he's try to accuse me of liking her, but I was much too paranoid, "Fujisaki! You're with her all the time for Guardian stuff! Do you have any advice?" I didn't know what to say. Truthfully, yes. I did have plenty of advice. However, I was extremely reluctant to share it.

My eyes went slack at him, I thought over whether I should tell him or not, humming slightly as I thought. Maybe I looked a little… annoyed? Decision made, "I have… no idea," I insisted. Very out of character for me. Yaya appeared behind him.

"Kirishima-kun, do you ACTUALLY like Rima-tan?" Yaya asked innocently.

"Yeah," he answered quickly.

"Now that you mention it Yuiki-san, she did have quite the number of fans when she first moved here, who didn't ACTUALLY like her," Tadase inquired. I could even see Rima, with the same expression I had when I'd just answered Fuyuki's question, standing still while a million boys chanted her name. You know how I said I had a wide fanbase? Yeah, so does Rima. We're probably at a tie right now… Hmm, I wonder. Maybe we should do a ballot… Aw, maybe later.

"Once everyone found out that Rima loves gags, everyone cooled off, though!" Amu recalled.

Then Fuyuki went on about how he didn't really like Rima back then until he saw her smile and laugh with Amu or something, blah, blah, blah… How he had a 'moment' with her when his ball rolled off course. If that's what he considers a 'moment'. Maybe they did have a 'moment' but still, a 'moment' can some times only be a 'moment' to one person during the 'moment'.

Heh, 'moment'. That's starting to look like I spelled it wrong… Hmm…

'Moment'.

'Moment'.

'Momeant'?

Nah, it's 'moment.'

I think…

I'll figure it out later!

"Sounds like you really like her, alright…" Yaya said to him. Amu seemed to think about it for moment.

'Moment'…?

ANYWAY, she obviously wanted what was best for Rima and not just some other fanboy.

"We'll help you!" She spoke for all of us. I questioned her thoughts on this…

"Hinamori-san?" I asked, unsure whether I actually DID want to help…

"We'll just give you a chance to talk to her; it's all you after that," Amu said.

"Sure! That'll be perfect!" Fuyuki exclaimed. Yaya stole a glance at me.

"Will it be perfect, though?" Yaya asked Fuyuki. Dear god, what's she gonna do? I thought.

Turns out she was against me being with Rima or SOMETHING.

Later on that day, Tadase and I sat under the Gazebo and watched as Yaya and Amu gave the hopeless romantic advice.

"Girls sure like to talk about these things…" I realized.

"My word…" Kiseki mumbled in disgust.

"What are you giving her for a present?" Yaya asked him. That caught my attention.

"I was thinking a doll…" He mumbled.

No.

"A doll?" Eru (yeah she arrived due to her 'love' radar or something) inquired, "I believe something a bit more special would be nice." She said. I totally agreed. Like my collectors item that I'd give to her! She'd love that, because it shows her that I actually know her better than most people because I was working harder to.

"Something special?" Miki thought.

"Like… a comedians autograph?" Ran put in. I nearly vomited. No way, nuh uh, what the HECK. Ran was suppose to… she was not… nooooo!

"That's it!" Eru confirmed!

Yaya asked Fuyuki, "What's Rima's favorite comedian now a day?"

Hatero Mayaibi. Duh.

"Kyarasuke, I'd think," he said. Nope. Wrong. It was so wrong.

Well, not SO wrong. I mean, Kyarasuke was her 3rd favorite comedian.

Hatero Mayaibi

Daizumu Lalito

Kyarasuke George

Yes, his first name's George; an American name. (_**AN: I just made that up for laughs. Uh haha!**_)

Amu dialed Utau's number and once she asked the question I heard some yelling.

"_You want an AUTOGRAPH?!"_

"That's what I expected…" Amu sweat dropped.

"_Oh, and if you see Eru, tell her I'm MAD!" _I heard Utau yell over the phone, "_I told her to run some errands and she never came back! LATER!" _she dismissed the call.

"Man, now she's mad at me…" Amu nearly got tears in her eyes.

"Me, too!" Eru actually did start crying.

After we all got settled down, this time Tadase, Amu, and I under the Gazebo and Yaya and Fuyuki talking from afar, I decided that I wasn't going to let my feelings get in the way of Rima being happy with a guy other than me.

"Yaya-chan is really fired up today…" I finally put what I'd witnessed of Yaya today into words.

"She's happy that someone is going to tell Rima that they like her for real. Since we all love Rima ourselves." Amu said. I almost flinched when she said we all loved Rima. Sure I cared for her but honestly, liking someone was no where close to loving someone. Not that I'd know, but it just seemed like it'd take a long time for my feelings for Rima to reach that level.

"So that's why you're helping Kirishima-kun?" Tadase asked her.

"I think Rima's just running from it," Amu thought aloud, "She get's along fine with us," she threw a glance at me, knowing that we had the occasional argument, "but around others she's sort of distant. I wonder if she'd afraid to give Kirishima-kun an answer or talk to any other kids. But… maybe that's okay though! I used to think the same way. But after I'd joined the guardians, I felt like I'd changed. And that's why I'm doing this. For Rima. Now." She seemed very dedicated to her best friend.

"The surprise party was your idea," I added.

"I-I just thought it'd be fun is all!" she defended.

"I think she'll understand," Tadase spoke, "Mashiro-san will understand your feelings, Hinamori-san."

"I hope so…" Amu mumbled.

Then Kirishima interrupted a heart felt moment between a few Guardians. Great.

I shrugged off the feelings and remembered what I'd resolved to do. I'd help Fuyuki give Rima the perfect gift.

Before we left to get Rima, I talked to Fuyuki.

"Hey, Kirishima-kun," I said.

"Oh, hey Fujisaki. Thanks for everything with Rima, it really helped. I'm not so nervous anymore!" he sounded so proud.

"No problem. Anything for a friend," I replied politely, "However, I realized that you were having problems with getting her a present. Here," I reached into inside my over shirt. I pulled out… the ceramic Bala-Balance collectors item. Maybe she needed such a special gift from someone other than me. She's sure to know that I already care about her; a present won't reassure her as much as me just telling her.

Fuyuki's eyes widened, "Whoa man, where'd you get that?" he asked once I told him what was inside the neatly wrapped box.

"I ordered it about 2 weeks ago. It took me 6 or 7 days to even find it on the internet…" I said. "Not a big deal or anything…" I mumbled soft enough so he wouldn't hear.

"Fujisaki, I couldn't—" he began, pushing gently back towards me. I gently pushed back.

"No, I insist." I said. He shook his head and chuckled.

"Thank you, Fujisaki-san," he said before bowing. I graciously accepted and then waved goodbye to go get Rima with the others.

When we got back… well, long story short, Fuyuki got nervous and unsure, becoming 'lost', then he Chara Transformed with a question egg into a love sick freak who threw hearts everywhere, making you confess random things, and one nearly hit Rima.

I, of course, ran so it hit me instead. I almost confessed that I was Nadeshiko, but Tadase stopped me, only to get hit with a heart as well and almost confess that he loved… Amu. Once we finally purified him (well Amu did anyway) he confessed to Rima. He then pushed the gift to her with his hands. The gift that took me 3 weeks to get. But I didn't regret giving it to him. Maybe it would let her trust someone else other than us Guardians. She needed that.

"… would you be my girlfriend?" Fuyuki finally asked after a long speech. Rima looked back at us, and was it just me or did her eyes hold my gaze for a second? Either way, my stomach lurched and I smiled a little. She turned back to Fuyuki.

"I know I should have answered you sooner," Rima said in her small voice, "But I guess I was just scared. I'm sorry. I just don't see myself having a boyfriend right now. I hope you understand and don't hate me…"

Kirishima looked down a bit, disappointment spreading through out his face. But he looked back up to Rima and gave a weak smile, "I understand…"

We then went to The Royal Garden afterwards for the party. Everything was so happy, and by then the sun was starting to set.

"Hey Rima-tan why don't you open Fuyuki's present?" Yaya suggested. Rima untied the bow and I stepped over to behind her so I could see over her shoulder. She took the lid off of the box and absolutely beamed. The lion in my chest seemed to calm down at this, her expression worth all the trouble today. What I'd do to make her smile. Kirishima smiled at me as Rima said how much she loved it.

Just then, Iru flew through the window carrying a sheet of paper. It was a signed autograph of Kyarasuke George. Rima's smile widened even more as took it in her hands.

Amu seemed thoroughly satisfied, "I knew she'd come threw," she smiled.

"Yeah, she said she owed you a favor or 2 anyway," Iru said, "Oh and Eru, Utau said don't bother coming back!" Eru started crying again.

We all ate cake and enjoyed the party until it was finally time to go home. Yaya was the first to leave, shortly followed by Fuyuki, then Tadase. I then started for the door and turned the corner to the alley behind the school. I continued walking for a few… eh, _moments_. Then suddenly I heard foot steps behind me as I turned to see Rima turning the corner as well. She stopped once she saw me but then continued to walk forwards. I stayed still in my tracks as she walked by.

"Thanks for the present, Nagihiko," she said quietly. I started walking behind her, not taking long to match her pace.

"Oh, you're welcome. I mean, my mom always makes jewelry, so the bracelet wasn't that big a deal—"

"I mean thanks for the Bala-Balance Daiho item," she cut in nonchalantly. I stopped in my tracks as my heart started pounding.

"W-what?" I stuttered.

She stopped about a foot away from me. The sun was casting a golden light on her blonde locks, making them appear to be glowing. Her eyes were full of amusement as she turned to look at me.

She smiled lightly, "Cut the act, Nagihiko. I know that Fuyuki didn't get me that present." I stood there utterly dumbfounded until I blinked at her. She smiled at me. She actually was being nice to me. This was a huge milestone for me, since the first day I met her I've wanted this!

"Adsfarginblehjug," I said. My palm met my forehead. I turned pure red as I realized I'd forgotten how to speak. I sounded like an idiot for the first time in my life; a complete and utter idiot.

But Rima laughed. She laughed and all the tension seemed to melt away. She actually let her wall down for me today. I started smiling and chuckling a little. Then she stopped but still smiled widely.

"Hey, I got to go, purple head. We tell no one about this, okay? We ARE arch enemies after all," she stated. I nodded and then said something that seemed to slip out.

"When will you just admit that you're in love with me?" I shook my head in mock disappointment. She laughed again and then starred at me.

"In your dreams, girly boy."

"Girly boy?"

"Girly boy."

"Girly… boy."

"Yes, you idiot. Girly boy. You're a girly. Boy. And anyway, I thought you deserved for me to be friendly with you for a few minutes. You know tomorrow I'm going back to arguing with you." I nodded as this, "And even though we're friends that doesn't mean I have to be nice to you." I nodded again, and then stopped suddenly.

"You know, this is one of the only times I've ever heard you talk so much."

"Yeah, so?"

"And you just called me your friend!"

"Because we are friends, you dingus."

"And this is the first time we've gone 5 minutes without you arguing with me,"

"I'm aware."

"Thank you,"

"… For what?"

"For being yourself around me for once."

"Don't expect it to happen often. Actually, this might be the only time I talk to you like this ever again. In your entire life."

"Sure," I said sarcastically.

"I'm serious,"

"Oh yeah, yeah. I know! I know."

"Is that sarcasm?"

"Whaaat? No way." I noticed that this was the first time I ever talked to someone without being strictly polite and saying what would please them. I could talk casually, like I'd known Rima forever.

"Whatever," she chuckled, "I gotta go. I'll see ya tomorrow!" and she ran to a car parked at the end of the alley and hopped in. I couldn't suppress the smile that beamed to life on my face. Then, a small meow was heard as a small cat floated by casually, right in my line of vision.

"Smooth, nya…" Yoru said then slowly drifted out of site. I sweat dropped at the random action but quickly shook it off and ran the entire way home.

I was certain about one thing: I no longer 'liked' Amu. Rima was a one and only.

.'*'.'*'.'*'.

"Temari…" I mumbled. I missed her so much, and looking at all the Charas being happy together just made me wish she was here more.

"Huh?" I looked down to see Rima.

"Oh!" I struggled to come up with something, "Don't mind me." Rima looked at me innocently, obviously confused.

Nikaidou-sensei established that we'd be going to a radio tower! Fun. We all called our parents, just to be safe that we could be out so late.

"They seem to trust you, sensei…" I sweat dropped.

"He's a hit with the moms!" Yaya exclaimed

"You think?" he smiled modestly.

"You always look so scruffy, people don't think you have a girlfriend," Rima said.

He sweat dropped.

"You naturally trigger their maternal instincts, I guess," Amu added.

"That's quite enough of that!" Nikaidou seethed, "Just call your parents, Hinamori-san!" Amu stopped laughing and opened her phone, looking like she was having some kind of internal conflict. She dialed a number and talked for awhile until she confirmed she could go.

We all filed into the car again. After about 10 minutes, we pulled up to a building, a radio tower visible behind it.

"And this is…?" I asked.

"FM Inter," Nikaidou pointed out, "One of Easters affiliated companies. If they're planning on doing a radio broadcast, it'd have to be here…"

I looked at Rima and Yaya. Yaya suddenly turned pink with excitement, "All right! Let's bust in!" she said enthusiastically.

"Excuse me," Nikaidou piped up, "I have a question…" we noticed he was talking to a guard that was standing… well, guard.

He walked inside as we waited behind the building in a small alley.

"Yaya's excited! But Yaya is also scared…" Yaya mumbled.

"Yeah, I'm really anxious…" I mumbled.

"Everybody be cool!" Rhythm yelled. I laughed nervously while Rima glared at him. Nikaidou came out of a side door and scratched the back of his head.

"There isn't a program like that tonight," he said.

"So there's no broadcast of Ikuto's music on their schedule?" Amu asked.

"Nope," He said, "The station doesn't even do live broadcasts."

"But it's part of Easter! They could play it off the schedule!" Yaya insisted.

The side door that Nikaidou had just exited opened to reveal a very plump lady that I recognized well.

"Oh hey, it's you!" Nobuko Saeki said. We all turned to look at her. Once Yaya, Amu, and Rima got a good look at her, they leaned back in surprise, "I'm back for more! Just like last time. I am…. TheCharismaticFortune-TellerWhoJustHappensToBePass ingBy: Saeki Nobuko!" she chanted.

"She's back?!" Miki, Ran, and Su were quite shocked.

"Thank you for your courtesy, desu," Su bowed her head.

"Amu-chi, Amu-chi! Nobuko-chi's fortune-telling helped you find Rima-tan and me when we were lost, right?" Yaya remembered. Amu laughed nervously.

"That is true, yeah…" Amu said. Then her eyes widened, "Are you suggesting that we use her fortune-telling?"

"YOU WANT TO SAVE SOMEONE DON'T YOU?" Nobuko fiercely said. She grinned, "Someone _important_ to you…"

Amu and her Charas all looked flabbergasted.

"See, see?!" Yaya cheered.

"Alright, I'll so a special reading for you," Nobuko said.

"Are you sure?" Tadase asked.

"Yes, of course," she pulled out a book and started flipping through the pages, "Louis Antoine also said that Capricorns should 'Take special care during unexpected second meetings.'"

"Who's that?" Rima asked in her quiet voice. Nobuko looked up at her.

"Eh? You haven't heard of him?" She questioned, "Louis Antoine… Tsukasa!" We all collectively sweat dropped as she showed us the picture of him in the book, or magazine, she was reading from. She started blushing and fangirling, "He's the new, gorgeous, pretty boy fortune-teller!"

Tadase smiled nervously, "Tsukasa-san, what are you doing?" he asked the air.

"Heh, it says that Libra's lucky item is a picture book," Yaya had the same expression that Tadase wore. I looked at Yoru and let him sit in my hands. I walked up to Nobuko and showed him to her.

"Madame," I started graciously, "We're looking for this little guy's bearer." I said to her. She took a step towards me then put her face close to my palm so she was looking Yoru right in the eyes.

"Ny ny nya…" Yoru mumbled, barely even a whisper.

"White Tower." Nobuko said, concentrating hard, "Violin. An Amusement park? Maybe not... But somewhere with a lot of open space." We all looked at her with anticipation, anxious to learn more.

"An Amusement park with a white tower?" Amu asked.

"Does such a place even exist?"

"Amu-chan, look at that!" Ran exclaimed, pointing at a bill board for an Amusement Park with a White Tower. How… convenient?

"It was right under our noses!" Yaya wailed.

"In fact, it was so big we totally missed it!" Rima added.

"A theme park for growing kid's dreams," Kiseki read from the bill board.

"Dream Egg Land, Opening Soon… Easter!" I finished, reading the sponsor for the Amusement park.

"What's Dream Egg in Japanese?" Kusukusu asked Pepe.

"Eh? Yume no Tamago!" Pepe responded.

"Easter, you fiends!" Kiseki yelled.

"How DARE they do this after yanking out so many X eggs!" Miki added.

"Indeed, desu! It's unforgivable!"

"Oh yes, I heard they're holding a concert to celebrate the Grand Opening," Nobuko said. We all turned to look at her again, "A violin concert, if I do recall…" Tadase and Amu's eyes widened.

"Amu-chan!" Tadase exclaimed.

"Yeah," Amu seemed to understand, "Thank you, Madame Nobuko," Amu bowed.

"I don't know what you're up to," Nobuko pushed up her glasses, "But you better hurry. The clock is ticking!" Miki and Kusukusu sweat dropped.

"What's she saying it to?" Miki asked, since Nobuko was looking off into the distance at something.

"Hey, over here!" Kusukusu tried for her attention.

Everyone thanked Nobuko as Amu, Tadase, and Yaya headed to the car. Rima was lagging behind and I was the last to say thanks. Rima started for the car as I was just giving one last respective thank you.

"So then, if you'll excuse us…" I bowed my head and turned to leave, right behind Rima, when she crossed her arms.

"Wait a moment," she said. I stopped abruptly and turned to her. Hopefully it wasn't about… "You were a girl the last time we met, weren't you?" She asked me. I was a little shocked, but more interested in how she knew that.

"Eh?" I turned my body completely to face her, rather than just my head.

"You may have fooled me then but I can sense that you have the same Guardian spirits." She unfolded her arms and leaned in close, "The same as that pony-tailed girl," she said.

"Uh… Y-yeah. I got to go, thank you Madame Nobuko," I turned to see Rima still running to the car. I ran fast to catch up and folded up the seat once she got in. I sat down and buckled in, sitting next to Tadase with the 3 girls in the back. We started driving.

After about 5 minutes, Yaya started to complain. "Sensei, get a move on!" she yelled. But I couldn't get Temari off my mind. Or how Nobuko remembered me from when I met her as Nadeshiko. Everything was much easier back then… I sighed and looked out the window, earning a quizzical look from Rima.

"Not over the speed limit, Yaya-san!" Nikaidou said earnestly.

Kiseki floated around and stopped on the shoulder of Tadase, "Tadase, when does the Broadcast start?" He asked. Tadase was examining a pamphlet of sorts, probably from some Easter event.

"It's tonight, at 7pm."

Amu and her Chara looked over the seat and studied the pamphlet from over Tadase's shoulder.

"7 o'clock?" Ran asked.

"It's almost time, desu!" Su added.

"Sensei!" Amu called to the front seat, implying for him to turn on the Radio. As if on cue, the line cracked and a voice boomed through car.

"_And that's all for today's broadcast. But keep your dial turned to FM Inter. Stay tuned!" _A male voice said charismatically.

After a few seconds, while Nikaidou and all of us kids driving over a bridge now, the sad violin music started coursing though the car. The melody started with a long note, then dropped to dramatic low note, then reached higher than the first note after a few beats. It was a slow, poignant melody, the notes vibrating to making you feel melancholy.

Finally, we pulled up in front of the Amusement Park and all jumped out of the car without acknowledging Nikaidou, who frantically fumbled out of the car and tried to follow us. But once we crossed under the gateway, iron bars fell down. Amu was thriving in the front of the pack along with Tadase, and I followed foot. Yaya was behind me, but Rima, obviously running as hard as she could, was still behind us. Yaya noticed this and stopped.

"Guys! Guys, wait for Rima-tan!" Yaya called. We all stopped in our tracks and saw the little image of Rima appearing from afar.

"Rima!" Amu called.

I hesitated for a 'moment' but then lurched forward towards Rima, breaking into a run.

"Fujisaki-kun!" Tadase called.

"Go ahead without me!" I called. I ran until Rima's figure became clearer. She was bent over, her hands grasping her knees, "Rima-chan!" I yelled. She looked up after mumbling something to Kusukusu.

"Nagihiko," she said, a little shocked.

"Are you okay?" I said, smiling kindly down at her short figure. She just stared at me as I held out my hand, "Come on." I insisted. Her gaze turned into a glare.

"I won't hold hands with a liar," she deadpanned. I jerked back, my hand falling back to my side.

"Mneh, what are you talking about?" I asked. She continued to glower up at me.

"I overheard your conversation before. With Nobuko-sensei," she said, "Nagihiko, is that true?" I stared wide eyed at her. She was talking about Nadeshiko. She had to be. Rima knew. She knew all about my cross dressing secret.

Her eyes were daggers as I tried to piece together what she was asking me. I stared blankly at her for quite awhile before I put my hands in my pockets and gave a small smile, "Oh dear, this is a problem." I reached further into my pockets until I felt my hand touch Temari's egg. Rima gave me a questioned look, and she gasped once I showed Temari's egg, "Think you could keep this a secret from the others for while?" I put my finger to my lips and winked.

I didn't know how Rima would react at all, but almost right after I finished my sentence she got her stubborn look again, "I don't know… What do you think, Kusukusu?" She asked her comical chara who was just staring innocently at me. Kusukusu started spazzing out.

"What should we do? WHAT SHOULD WE DO?!" she screamed.

Rhythm and I sweat dropped simultaneously, "Pretty please?" I asked weakly. Rima blinked at me.

"I'll think about it," she said simply in her small voice.

"… Thanks I guess?" I meant to say, but it came out more like a question.

"Yeah, you're welcome," She said, turning her head to look away from me. We heard a yell from ahead and could see the mass of X-eggs swarming over what we could only assume were the others. We looked at each other and nodded. I grabbed her hand, though she didn't protest. I felt my face warm up a fraction but pushed it aside. We both ran until the others were in view and we saw that they needed help urgently. X-eggs were corning them in.

"My Heart: Unlock! Character Transformation: Clown Drop!" She chanted. I bright light engulfed her as her hair flew upwards, her face glowing and beaming brightly. I was dazed at how beautiful it was. Once she was fully transformed, she landed down on her feet swiftly, "Tightrope Dancer!" The ropes lashed out at the eggs, surprising Yaya and Amu. I could tell Rima wanted the others to go on; that she thought she could handle these eggs by herself.

"I can do this myself!" She resolved, "There isn't time for everyone to idle around! Hurry up and go!"

"But—Rima, it's impossible to take on all those eggs just by yourself!" Amu tried to convince Rima.

"Amu-chan," I said. She turned towards me, "I'll stay behind, too. Don't worry."

Amu was pleading with herself. She obviously didn't want to leave us, but we knew that if she wanted to save Ikuto then she would have you hurry. She knew it, too. Hell, everyone knew that we'd have to be left behind!

"Nagihiko! B-but—"

Rima looked at her determined as she cut her off, "Go," she said.

"Believe in us," I finished for her with a smile and nod towards Amu. Rima and I looked at each other. She was gorgeous in her Character Transformation. Scratch that- she was basically always gorgeous. I saw an object sweep down towards her as I ran forwards and threw my arms around her, pushing her out of the way. We both stayed crouched as we looked at what had threatened her.

"A… basketball?" Rima questioned. The eggs rose further into the sky and chanted single phrased sentences.

"Offense!"

"Defense!"

"Dribble!"

One egg split open, revealing an x-character wearing a white jersey shirt, "Pass and cut!" he shouted.

Rima and I stood and faced back to back. Six juggling pins appeared in front of her and she swept her arms across to grab three in between her fingers of each hand.

"It looks like everyone left," I noticed.

"I didn't think they'd believe in us," Rima huffed.

I chuckled lightly, "Ah, don't say that." I turned to look at her, my body still braced for any kind of impact, "We're both keeping my secret, right?" I asked. She turned to look at me, "Do you want to know why I'm keeping it a secret? I can't chara change or Character Transform; I'm a burden to everyone. I can't take on this many x-eggs by myself…" I said. We suddenly heard someone or something shift and turned to see a girl sprawled out on the ground. Rising away from her unconscious body was another x-character.

"Another x-character! It looks like it hatched from that girl's egg," Rima observed. The x-character started chanting words like the other eggs were.

It rose so that it was directly in front of us, "Hey, heyyy dribble! Dribbling!"

"It looks like it's a basketball character… huh." Rima glared at it. I heard Kusukusu softly say, "Rima's least favorite sport…"

I reached up and undid my Royal Cape, throwing it to the ground, "Then let's play."

"Eh?" Rima asked.

"Could you eggs please wait a second?" I reached up, taking off my black cardigan, "The truth is… basketball is my FAVORITE sport…" I finished. Memories flooded my mind: the first day I had to dress as Nadeshiko, the 1st year of being a Guardian with just Tadase and Kukai, telling Tadase about me cross-dressing when I was only 8, and walking past the courts on the way home from school and watching boys play basketball freely.

I don't know when I started dodging and running for the ball, but once I started I couldn't stop. I felt so free; free to be myself, free to be a boy. I got the ball, "Allllllright!" I shouted enthusiastically. The chara looked absolutely astounded. My hair flew around me as I ran with the ball, dribbling it. I swerved and wove, a sensation taking hold of my body, "Here I go!"

Rima was looking at me in awe, a look that surprised me. Rima was actually… impressed…? "That's… amazing! It looks like he's dancing!" I heard her say.

The sensation that took over my body was a long forgotten feeling. But it had to be. Back then, I had to be as feminine as possible so that it would show through my dancing.

"_To dance like a girl, you must act like a girl. You will study how to act like a woman," _my mother lectured when I was six. My first day of school, Baaya pulled my hair into a tight, high ponytail that held up my mid-back length hair. I remember walking past boys who were talking about sports, making plans for after school. Not only did I have to be a girl, but a feminine girl. No playing unladylike sports, or eating unladylike food, or saying unladylike things… Manners, posture, voice, grammar. It bothered my at first, having to live as who I really was in secrecy. About 5 months into 2nd grade year, in Physical Education, we were doing our 1st semester test. We did push ups. The standard for boys was 10; the standard for girls was 6. I accidently did 18, and got scolded madly at by my mother. The second trial was the jump. I can still remember is vaguely, because that was the day that Temari's egg wavered slightly for the first time.

"_Let's see how high you can jump! The next person is Fujisaki Nadeshiko!" _The gym teacher exclaimed. Not wanting to disappoint me mother like I'd done the day before, I knew I had to jump lightly. More of a hop.

_This isn't something a girl could do easily… I'll have to jump lightly or they won't think I'm a girl… But the truth is, I want to jump as high as high as I can! _I looked up at the measuring wall, putting my hand to my heart as I felt it waver. About 3 months into the 1st grade year, when I was especially proud that my mother said my movements were more feminine, Temari was born. She'd hatched about a week later after one dance practice where I didn't trip once and only shook 4 times. But every once in a while, I'd think about what it'd be like to be a boy openly. Jumping as high as I could, playing sports. Playing basketball.

I jumped 8 inches, the standard for girls. The stand for boys was 12, and I kept wondering how high I would've jumped if I actually tried.

That night, before I went home, I changed in the bathrooms outside of school. Baggy flare jeans and a sweat shirt. I let my hair down, shaking it out, and put my hood on over it. I slowly walked over to the basketball courts, somewhat frightened to be seen in public as a boy for the first time in 2 years. I looked up at the hoop, then looked at my surroundings to make sure no one would suspect I was Nadeshiko. Eventually, gripping the basketball with sweaty hands, I smiled at the hoop. _If I jumped here, it'd be fine; as high as I can go! _Adrenaline gushed through me as I jumped as high as I could, maybe 15 inches, and threw the basketball. The net swished as I beamed, the ball making it in perfectly. _It's okay for boys to try their hardest. _

My hair brushed upwards out of my face as I dribbled and looked up at the x-character, winking lightly, "If it's one on one, it looks like I'll win. Come on, watcha gonna do?" I said in a cocky voice. The x-character gritted its teeth and clenched its fists, perspiration dripping down its face. I continued to dribble the ball, but it bounced to a stop on the floor once the x-character split into 3 x-characters. My mouth dropped open as Rima glared at them.

"Th-they split into three?!" I squeaked out. Rima's eyes were basically chainsaws on the guys, as they flinched once her eyes flicked to look at them.

"They're forming a team…" Rima informed me. All the x-characters avoided her gaze as they started acting outraged.

"Three on three!" They yelled.

There was a sudden flushing sound as we both turned and saw the remaining x-eggs circling around to make a sort of hoop.

Rima and I both sweat dropped, "Looks like they want a 6 person match, huh?" I asked.

"But we've only got two people over here," Rima pointed out.

I braced my self on my knees, bending over slightly, and said simply, "I won't lose." I grinned with determination.

"Piece of cake!" Rima encouraged me. A random whistle blew and the x-characters split up, going in different directions. One of them tried to throw the ball to another, but Rima jumped as high as she could and reached out a hand, knocking it down. She passed it me, looking at me from over her shoulder.

"Back me up! Shoot for the basket!" She demanded. She looked so determined, surrounding her in a ferious kind of beauty.

"Okay!" I yelled back. I started jumping and jogging, but all in time. I could hear the traditional Japanese music playing in my head, and every time my foot hit the ground, it hit on a beat. _I know this feeling… I can feel my own rhythm!_

I beamed as I suddenly heard a voice in my ear. Rhythm shouted charismatically, "Nagihiko, you finally found your own rhythm!" He flew in front of my face, "Let's do this!"

"My Heart: Unlock?" I shouted. My first ever character transformation. My hair whipped up and floated above my head as Rhythm winked, making a piece sign, and became enclosed in his blue egg. I reach out and closed my eyes, a golden light enveloping us as I delicately put his egg into my chest, "Character Transformation: Beat Jumper!" Power coursed through my veins as I jumped down to my feet, landing swiftly. Rima blinked at me, her mouth open. She appeared to be blushing lightly, but once I blinked it was gone and she was just smiling at me.

I felt like my soul was pounding to a certain beat as Rhythm talked inside my head, _"Let's beat them the cool way, Nagi!" _

"Okay!" I exclaimed. I felt everything build up in the core of my stomach as I jumped, ball in hand, and made a hoop, "_**Beat Dunk!**_"

I landed on the ground, crouched as my eyes looked up. Smiling in a way that I knew was because of Rhythm, I said, "That's a match!" Rima looked up at the x-characters with wide eyes.

"Can't you just give up?" She asked to them.

The characters morphed back to one as I stood my. My smile immediately faded once a voice started muttering words, "_How horrible, pathetic; I can't jump... I can't jump like a boy…_"

I starred at the girl lying on the ground sympathetically. It was her voice, talking about herself, "_I took a boy's position, but because I'm a girl, I wasn't getting any taller… There are so many differences: I can't be strong like a boy, I can't jump like a boy… "_

"Ah… I remember this feeling…" I murmured.

It happened over the time I was studying abroad, and I was particularly happy in this performance because I was as feminine as I could be. I bowed gracefully as the crowd went wild, hands smacking against its pair and everyone whistling at how beautiful I had been. I walked into the dressing room, only to be faced with an interviewer. My mom and our schools manager, Sato Kaezuma, were reluctant to let me be interviewed, afraid that my secret might come out on accident. But the interviewer insisted for me to sit down, so I crossed my legs, placing my hand on my knee and welcoming them in my Nadeshiko voice. But I didn't think about it as playing Nadeshiko, dressing like her. I _was_ Nadeshiko, I _was _a girl, and I wasn't Nagihiko. After Temari was born, most of the time I'd thought of Nadeshiko and Nagihiko as separate people.

"_Bravo, Nagihiko. Fantastic! But how disappointing: even though you're a boy, you dress as a girl. Of course, you're dancing is wonderful and mysterious, but if you were female you'd surely be more graceful." _The interviewer mused, earning a furious look from my mother.

"_Now you listen here—"_

"_Mama, can I get changed now?" _I asked, tears in my eyes.

"_Nagihiko, what is the matter?" _My sister asked me, but I simply walked on to the changing room. I remember how much I longed to be a girl for dance, just so I could actually move more like one. I was no match for a girl, no matter how hard I'd try; it'd be much easier to be a girl. For girls, the most difficult thing about Traditional Japanese dance was the moves, the swaying. They didn't need to worry that much about being feminine; that came naturally. For me, the moves were easy, and the big task that I came face to face with every time I walked into that practice room was being feminine. But I put my best effort forth, and I tried my hardest. _Although I'll never be a girl, I know that my dancing is my own._ I knew that if I put my energy and time into it, it would show. I could end up dancing like a girl, no matter what. But I'd realized this all too late, for after I got changed, tears escaping my eyes, all faith gone, Temari wavered far to much, and with one last sympathetic look, she slipped back into her egg. The night that I'm talking about right now, being with Rima, was when I'd finally realized that I was me and your gender had barely anything to do with the art you portrayed.

"That's wrong… changing your gender isn't the problem; improve your art and heart; if you throw your heart into it, it'll be fine!" I told the x-character, "If you won't get taller, then jump and you can do it! Only your jump… is your jump. You're the girl who plays basketball, not just another boy who plays basketball… You're as unique as possible. Just like… my dance!" my heart filled with joy and I couldn't comprehend what was happening as the pink flowered egg appeared in front of me and cracked, just as it had when I was in 2nd grade.

"Temari!" I exclaimed, tears of joy slipping down my face.

"Nagihiko, it's been too long!" she greeted. Rhythm's Character Transformation came undone as he floated over to his big sister and gave her a high five.

"Let's switch out!" he said.

"Alright!" she giggled.

"My Heart: Unlock!" I chanted.

A silver light, much richer and beautiful, surrounded me as my hair flew upwards a second time. My tears evaporated as I chuckled, overly giddy about the return of Temari. She went into egg as I gently pushed her into my chest just as I did with Rhythm. I felt a ribbon wrap around my hair as it tightened. I bouquet of flowers tucked themselves into the ring. Articles of clothing—ribbons, ties, and skirts—flew to place, creating a Traditional Japanese ensemble that surrounded me, gripping it around me. To flowing wing-like pieces of cloth flung outwards. A thick piece of ribbon wrapped itself around my torso and tightened, a bow coming into place on my back. Translucent fans came around to cover over the bow as I covered my mouth with my drooping sleeve, closing my eyes.

"Character Transformation: Yamato Maihime!"

I floated in the sky, giving off a luminescent flow. Rima was gazing up at me, "Amazing… so pretty…" she muttered. I blushed lightly, even though I was Nadeshiko. I floated down elegantly and landed right in front of Rima, cheesing and still covering my mouth with my sleeve.

"It is my first time meeting you like this, Rima-chan," I said in Nadeshiko's voice.

"So you're the last queen Nadeshiko." Rima smiled up at me. I realized that I was towering over her. I smiled back down at her and thought for a second. I don't remember what came over me, or how I knew what had to be done, but I gently grabbed Rima's hand.

"Alright then, let's combine our power!" I beamed. The feeling of her hand in mine gave me major confusing feelings, and I held down a blush. Our finger tips were just brushed to together, my hand extending down and her hand reach up to meet it. We then both turned, our backs pressed together, and, our hand still intertwined, we lifted our free hands.

"_**Queen's Waltz!" **_we both yelled. Rima let go of my hand and held a red and white striped cane as I allowed a fan to appear. She spun her cane around and then snapped it to a stop as I spun my fan in a circle in my hand. Once we were both don't spinning our items at the exact same time, we pushed them together, grabbing each others hands, and let a thick and warm light beam out from where we stood.

The eggs, once black and adorning an X, turned white a fled the seen, going to their owners.

Rima and I both smiled at each other brightly. She even laughed, causing me to blush red. Luckily, I don't think she noticed. The x-character cracked and was blinded by a bright light. Once the ray dispersed, a girl with short hair and a basket ball jersey was there floating.

"Thanks, _you two." _She winked, retreating into her egg and disappearing into the girl's heart with a new lesson to be taught. I blushed even darker by the way she'd said _'you two', _though I didn't particularly know why. Rima and I looked at each other for a moment, and we actually did have a 'moment'. We both cracked a smile at each other as our Character Transformations came undone. Temari came and hugged my face, which was a little awkward but I didn't mind since I'd missed her so much. She then floated over to Rhythm.

"We did it!" His eyes gleamed with achievement.

"Yes we did!" she beamed at him.

Kusukusu was hysterical, "WE CAN PURIFY EGGS NOW, RIMA!" she screamed.

"It's not my power alone, Kusukusu," she said. Rhythm and Temari sped towards me where I smiled with so much joy at them; "If I combine my power with this kid…" she looked at me. She slowly walked over to me, where I smiled lightly down at her.

"Rima-chan," I nodded.

She looked up, craning her neck, and wore a rare smile, "That thing you said before… I can trust you now… just a little." She said. I beamed down at her, happiness overcoming my heart. We stood there for a bit, just side by side. The last of the eggs began to flee back to their owners.

"The eggs are returning," Rima pointed out, "Thank goodness."

"Mhmm!" I smiled brightly. There was looming silence for a few second before she turned to me, and I turned to her, my eyes still closed from smiling.

"… Why did you change to Nadeshiko?" Rima asked.

"Hmm… I dunno. Both of them are the real me, so don't worry about it." I said cheerfully.

"…JUMP!" I heard a voice and turned my heard curiously to look at it. It was the girl lying down. She appeared to be sleep talking, "I did… it… a slam dunk… I'll definitely… be a… regular…"

I turned back to Rima, her beautiful smile still plastered on her face. Her smile was so contagious that you could've been the saddest you would be your entire life, and her smile would still make you grin. I smiled at her and looked into her eyes.

My crush turned into a humungous liking.

.'*'.'*'.'*'.

"Now that its spring, should I go back to dance school, or keep doing what I'm doing now?" I sighed, "I really need to decide… and…"

I was walking down the street from my house, taking a break from dancing. I wore a light over coat since it was the beginning of spring.

"And, I need to tell Amu-chan my secret…" I muttered. Rhythm and Temari floated up to my head.

"Just go and do it, yo!" Rhythm encouraged.

"She'll pass out from shock and maybe even have a heart attack, but you know…" Temari tried to comfort me, though she'd never been that good with things like that.

"I know that girls are pretty weak emotionally, so I keep hesitating to tell her…"

"Yo, Nagi, we got homework." Rhythm reminded me.

"Let's go look for the flower beginning to bloom like you're mother said," Temari added.

"Alright… hmm?" I looked over a saw a small ball underneath the tree I was going to investigate. I looked like a person, for it was blond and a little lumpy, "What's that ball shaped… thing? I've seen it somewhere before…" I racked my mind, but as I walked closer, I recognized it. My theory was confirmed as Rima lifted her face.

I ran over to her, "Rima-chan, I knew it was you!" I smiled at her, though she appeared to be in a bad mood, "What are you doing here, all curled up—ah!" she ferociously threw her head back down into her knees.

"A defense mechanism!" Temari said.

"Like a roly-poly!" Rhythm added.

"Why are you here…?" I asked Rima, though it was weak; like I didn't expect an answer, "Ah, are you here to see the cherry blossoms?" I asked.

She mumbled something, barely audible, "…not really…" her fragile voice cracked a little.

"They're not blooming yet, huh?" I noticed. Rima looked up, but just looked at the raw tree. My heart sped up as a thought sprang in my mind.

"T-the cheery trees aren't in bloom yet… b-but… right now, I know a place where the peach trees are blooming…" I felt my cheeks tingle lightly as my face got a tint of pink to it.

"Peach trees?" Rima chanced a glance at me. I smiled.

"I came to look at the flowers, too." I felt much more determined, "Let's go together, Rima-chan." I suggested.

"No."

She'd said it not even a second before I finished my sentence. Actually, I think she said it AS I was finishing my sentence. I sweat dropped, "…that was fast…"

"I'd go if it were Nadeshiko." She said in her flat voice.

"umm… what?" I started getting nervous.

"I get along better with Nadeshiko. I want to go with Nadeshiko," she deadpanned.

"WHAT?!" Rhythm and I screamed. I just started sweating like crazy, and tried to put on a smile to cover up my out burst, but it turned out looking rather… scary?

_time skip_

I hesitantly walked back up to Rima, wearing white girl jeans and a dark gray button up shirt with a loose skirt hanging on my waist.

"Ri…" I sighed, "Rima-chan, sorry to keep you waiting!" I smiled brightly, my hair swaying as I winked.

"NADESHIKO!" Rima screeched as she glomped me. I blushed red, having never seen Rima act like this even around Amu.

"Oh my…" I muttered.

"How strange… as Nadeshiko, I get along a lot better with girls…"

"That's because Nadeshiko is cuter and nicer!" Temari smiled.

Rhythm debated with that, "That's not true; Nagihiko has nearly as many fangirls as Tadase because he's polite and handsome!"

"He pretty much had the best of both worlds: handsome guy, beautiful chica!" Kusukusu giggled, causing Temari and Rhythm to laugh. I glared at them.

"Stop that! Besides, I mean I actually get ALONG with girls better, not get girls to stalk me," I sneered as Rima still hugged me. I looked down at her, "But I'm just glad to make you a little happier, heh…" I smiled.

Rima turned light pink as she glared me, "Hey, you were just Nagihiko," she pointed out as I realized I'd talked to her as Nagihiko.

"Ah… sorry?"

.'*'.'*'.'*'.

I hesitantly sat down next to Rima on the bench. The little kid, later to be found out as Tsubasa, Yaya's little brother, sat on her lap. His face was buried in her shoulder and he made little snoring noises.

"S… sorry for bullying you earlier…" I mumbled. I'd said that she used her cuteness against people, not knowing that she strongly disliked being called cute until Kusukusu told me.

"No, it was hardly even bullying. You were pointing out things…" she said back, her voice slightly muffled due to the 2 year old who was only half her size.

We sat in an eerie silence for a while, the only sounds the new arrived birds, the breeze, and Tsubasa's light breathing. I finally noticed the branches above us. Cherry trees.

"The cherry blossoms… Even here they're not blooming yet," I said. Rima looked deep in thought as her yes glanced at me, but quickly fleeing back to staring blankly ahead.

"Mhmm…" Rima mumbled.

"Yep—"

"You know," Rima cut in suddenly, her high voice just over a whisper, "My mama and papa were supposed to come and look at these flowers with me…" her voice wavered slightly so she cleared her throat to maintain a strong ego. "But… After all that, they got in a fight. And my dad moved out for more 'space'…" I felt bad for Rima. Her parent's were slowly separating while screaming at each other, and I was the first to know. Not Amu, not Yaya, but me: Fujisaki Nagihiko. If I hadn't been so sympathetic at the time, I would've jumped for joy. Mashiro Rima, the girl who said she didn't like me, was actually opening up to me and not her other friends. She put trust in ME.

"And just like that… I couldn't smile," Rima said simply, her voice cracking on her last word. I could tell that she was close to tears, but she refused to show any weakness. She was strong; amazing; brilliant; and beautiful. Even more so on the inside.

"It must have been lonely… Rima-chan…" I said softy. She gave a weak nod.

"Yeah, it was lonely…"

There was a sad silence for a while as I tried to comprehend why Rima was telling me this.

Rima finally broke the silence, "I wanted them to know how lonely I felt. So I worked as hard as I could to do that… But it was no use…" Rima looked down as Tsubasa and petted his hair lightly, "This little guy… I think he sensed the bad mood between us earlier. I'm sure he wanted us to go back to normal, too." She looked at the sky, a longing look in her eye, "I tried so hard to make them smile and be happy again, because I thought that if we did that then we could be a family again. But no matter how hard I tried… how hard I tried… it was impossible…"

I looked at here, noticing the forecast that clouded her eyes, and I just shot sympathy at her. I tilted my head forward and reach up, taking out my ponytail. My hair tumbled to my sides as I resumed my roll of Nagihiko. She looked at me with wonder in her eyes, her mouth slightly open.

"….. You can cry if you want to…" I reassured her.

"… I'm not going to cry. This little guy did all the crying for me," she smiled weakly down at Tsubasa, then looked up at me. I looked over at how small she was; even compared to a two year old, but I liked that about her. I smiled sadly back at her.

"I guess it's the end of that story…" Rima said.

I searched my mind for something to say, something to comfort her. I couldn't tell her that her parents would work it out because that'd be sugar coating it. And Rima was not one to like sugar coating.

"'Happily ever after 'or 'you'll turn into sea foam and disappear'… Those kinds of stories both exist. All we can do is read them; we can't change the out come…" I tried. I searched her eyes and started noticing the specks of gold and brown and even little slivers of silver, "Rima-chan, your papa and mama… they fell in love in the middle of their story…. But then they said goodbye… And that ending… you can't change it. Nobody can—not even god." I said it all softly and cautiously, not wanting to pluck at the wrong string.

"But… Rima-chan… you have your own story." I added. I thought about everything that'd happened between Rima and me, how she didn't really like me. I felt ashamed that I liked her so deeply, "I guess I'm not any good after all…" I blurted out. Rima looked up at me.

"Huh?" she asked.

I thought that I may as well just say it. Taking a deep breath, I looked her in her eye again, "I guess I can't become a character in your story." As I looked into her eyes, I realized the determination that was in them.

_I found it! The strong willed flower that lasts through winter… the flower beginning to bloom… _I remember thinking. My mom's homework was finally done. But I found myself not wanting to leave Rima just yet.

"Tsubasa!" We heard to voices call. We both looked up as Tsubasa's eyes drifted open, "We finally found you, Tsubasa-chan!" The two parents exclaimed hysterically. The mom ran faster than I'd ever seen a person run. Tsubasa extended his little arms out towards them.

"Ma! Pa!"

"Huh? Aren't those Yaya's parents?" Rima thought out loud.

"Then this kid is…." I began. Realization dawned in both of us at the same time.

"Yaya's little brother!" we noticed simultaneously. I blushed lightly but didn't let it faze me, "I see…. So that spoiling technique…"

"Just like Yaya…" Rima finished.

"Huh?" We looked up to see the parents looming over us, "You're Yaya's friends, right?" the father asked.

"Oh my… you were watching him this whole time?" His mother whistled lowly, Rima and I stood, and I lifted Tsubasa off of Rima's lap and set him down in front of his mother and father. "Well, thank you so very much! We must repay you someday!" I smiled kindly and looked over at Rima, whose lips were curled so much that she was almost glowing.

"Alright, let's go. Yaya's waiting for you in the car. God knows she's probably throwing a tantrum." Her dad murmured, earning a giggle from Rima. The turned, each parents grabbing hold of one of Tsubasa's hand. Rima's smile slowly dropped as she stood blankly ahead at them as they cheerfully went along. I saw her eyebrows arch painfully as her started getting sparkly. She showed so much longing. No, not longing. She wanted what was gone; she wanted a family.

"AH!" Rima's frown almost immediately turned in a huge smile, a sincere one at that, as Tsubasa waved back at her. She waved back at him as we watched them finally retreat over the hill.

"That's nice…" I hummed.

"Yep…" Rima confirmed.

The silence came back as we stood side by side, just looking blankly forward. Rima's eyebrows slowly arched again, the pained expression coming back to her face.

"I know I said it before…" her voice was shaky, "But I'm n-not going to c-cry…" I looked at her, my eyes wide, as I tear escaped her eye. I had to comfort her. I lifted my finger and gently brushed away the tear. My hand extended forward and cupped the side of her face as she looked at me with huge eyes.

"Good…" I commented, "Because it's not tears that suit you…"

"IT'S A SMILE!" Kusukusu finished enthusiastically. I smiled, but it dropped to a straight line as I looked at Rima, my hand still caressing her face. Our eyes were locked and my heart pounded so hard that I thought I'd leap out of my chest. Rima looked down and started giggling as my hand slowly went back to my side. I smiled down at her.

That's how I got to where I am now. I know that if Rima hadn't taken those leaps of faith, or if I hadn't put so much trust in her, she'd probably dislike me more than when we first met. It's mind boggling to see that even though we don't label ourselves as best friends, we are close and when we need someone to talk to, the other will always be there to listen…

_**End of Flashbacks… finally**_

I let go of Rima's hand and noticed the faint blush on her face as well, and right then I saw that little and lonely 12 year old Rima that I'd comforted back when she needed a friend.

"Are we going to eat or what? Nagihiko, you've been staring into space for like 60 seconds. Kukai is HUNGRY!" Kukai growled, impersonating a bear.

"Um… okay, then let's go now!" I said. Utau and Kukai nodded ferociously as we set off down the hill to where Amu and Tadase disappeared with Ikuto just a few minutes ago.

But little did I know that it was gonna be a long morning with my three friends.

* * *

Sooooo...? Huh? Did you like it? I know it was really boring but I really wanted to do how Nagi started liking Rima and how now he's falling for her. Please Read and Review. Oh, fyi for Amuto fans, there will be Amuto in this story, but you gotta be patient, kay?

p.s. um, I know that there are a lot of boring, short sentences so I'll work on that. Thanks :)

Ja ne!


	3. A Severely Unsuccessfully Robbery

Warning: This chapter is going to have some, uh, guns in it. That isn't a metaphor for like, muscles, either. This chapter will have firearms. I mean like, a pistol. Yes, yes, pistols. And thank you for all of the follows :D Please Review though, and give me ideas on how I can improve? Please? Oh and I make an appearance in this chapter :D I finally get to live the dream of being an anime character :)

* * *

_And all we know is touch and go.  
__We are alone with our changing minds,  
__We fall in love till it hurts or bleeds or fades in time._

_And I never saw you coming,  
__And I'll never be the same.__  
_

* * *

_**Rima's POV**_

Nagihiko was freaking me out, just staring into space for a minute straight. I mean, honestly, how could that not freak anybody out just a little? When he finally snapped back to his senses he let go of my hand, unfortunately. There was something about the way our fingers fit together that made me want to cling to his for dear life… But you don't repeat to anybody, okay?

When we finally got to a breakfast diner, 'Fast Break', we stood in silence while Utau and Kukai laid down their bets. Once we were seated, Utau and I in one side of the booth and Nagihiko and Kukai on the other, all the couple would talk about was what they'd compete with. They decided the 'Hungry Man's Snack,' which consisted of 4 pancakes, potatoes, a fruit bowl with cherry blossom and cranberry drizzle (a 'Fast Break' creation), breaded toast, onion bagels, and then somehow they fit a small serving of noodles with egg in there. Not to mention the 'dessert', a strawberry parfait. That surprised me; I didn't think that you could even have dessert with your breakfast…

I ordered a strawberry parfait with extra yogurt while Nagihiko ordered just eggs. Honestly, who just gets eggs fro breakfast? No toast? Must be a diet or something….

I folded my arms on the table and put my chin on the crook of my wrists, looking out of the window we were sat next to. I felt eyes peering at me and quickly glanced at Nagihiko. His hand was holding his face up while his elbow rested on the table. I felt my face tingle a bit before shifting uncomfortably in my seat to face him while Kukai and Utau glared at each other from over the table.

We stared at each other at first, but it some how turned into an intense staring contest. I leaned in and narrowed my eyes while he did the same. We were trying to see who would bring up a subject first, and that sure as hell wasn't going to be me.

But his brown eyes were too intense.

"What?" I asked in an annoyed voice, falling back against the booth. He smiled triumphantly before answering simply.

"Well, you were wrong earlier."

I squinted at him, a look of disbelief on my face, "_What?_ Okay, first of all: I'm never wrong. Second: what the hell are you talking about?" I inquired. He quirked an eyebrow before he leaned closer on the table, a competitive glow harvesting in his eyes.

"Earlier. You said you were the only single one in our group," he leaned back smugly, like he'd accomplished his one life goal.

I furrowed my eyebrows, "That's because I am you id—ohhhhh," realization overcame me. How could I have not noticed that Nagihiko was single, too? Idiot, idiot, idiot.

"And not just me, either. Yaya and Kairi aren't officially a couple yet—" He was cut off by music: my favorite band singing one of my favorite songs, 'Kiss! Kiss! Kiss!' as my phone received a call.

"_Yaya? What's wrong?" _I heard Amu's voice on the other end, but the caller ID had said it was Yaya. Besides, why would she be addressing Yaya if she'd called me…?

"_Is Rima-tan here, too?" _I heard Yaya's voice. I felt my face contort into one of confusion as I pulled the phone away, causing the screen to light up. It read, "3 way call: Me, Best Friend, Yuiki Yaya." I sighed and put the phone back to my ear.

"Yes, Rima-tan is here," I said. Yaya then let out an ear splitting scream that caused Utau to cover her ears.

"_Rima-tan, put Utau-tan on, too!" _Yaya suggested, though I think Utau heard it. She bent down to the mic.

"Yes, Yaya, I'm here, too." She assured her. There was another loud squeal.

"_Yaya! Shut up!" _Amu yelled in an annoyed voice.

Yaya breathed loudly, like she'd ran a marathon, "_Okay, okay. Kairi just asked Yaya out! He carried Yaya up to her room, because Yaya was sleeping, and when he tucked Yaya in, Yaya woke up and he asked Yaya out!" _she said, squealing yet again. I smiled broadly as I turned to Nagihiko. He sat up and was about to say the first thing, but I got to it first.

"What now?" I said as he slumped back in his seat in defeat, "In yo face!" I snapped the phone shut and wiggled in my seat, laughing maniacally. Suddenly our food was set in front of us and I stopped abruptly, looking at the waitress skeptically. There wasn't really a reason to look at her skeptically, but I just look at everybody like that. She looked to be around my age, maybe a year older because I'm only 15 and you have to be 16 to be employed. She looked at Kukai and Nagihiko and grinned flirtatiously. Utau and I seemed to notice at the same time, because we both glared at her with our infamous flinch inducing eyes. Usually, we only did this one at a time, but since we were _both_ glowering at her she nearly started crying. But she didn't leave! Averting her gaze from look at us, she threw us our napkins, but leaned over the table to the boys side and sat down there napkins politely, purposely revealing an unnecessary amount of cleavage.

Okay now, I know that Nagihiko and I weren't a couple or anything, but we very well could've been if you didn't know us. At first glance at our table, you'd probably know straight away that Kukai and Utau were dating, which lead you to believe that Nagihiko and I were, too. But even if this thought did cross our waitress's mind, she didn't seem to care at all.

I felt my face warm up with rage as I saw Nagihiko blush at her breasts while Kukai stifled a laugh, obviously not taking it to be very attractive. Well, that was obvious because hers looked liked mosquito bites compared to Utau's. But the look on Nagihiko's face made it hard for me not to be upset.

"**You can leave know.**" Utau and I said simultaneously through clenched teeth. She looked at us with a shocked look before rolling her eyes and walking away. Nagihiko looked down, obviously a little embarrassed. There was an annoying feeling nagging at my legs and at the back of my mind that made me subconsciously tighten my hands into fists under the table. That's when I glanced down at the table and noticed my breakfast parfait. I felt my face break into a beaming smile as I dove straight for the yogurt/fruit concoction. I finished mine in what seemed like a reasonable amount of time, but when I looked up I saw the three staring at me like I'd just defied all laws of physics. None of them had even taken a bite of their food yet. I laughed awkwardly and rubbed that back of my neck, but my broad smile quickly made its way back to my face. I noticed that Nagihiko's face was redder than when he'd seen the waitress bend down and his mouth was open a bit. I gave him a quizzical look.

"Fujisaki? Is something wrong?" I asked. He cleared his throat and shook his head before looking down at his eggs and smiling weakly.

"No. It was just your smile was really nice to see…" He said as he picked up his fork. I felt my face grow unbelievably red as I noticed Kukai and Utau staring at us. They quickly glanced at each other before staring back at us.

"Awkward~" Kukai sang as he turned back to Utau and they continued their glare. I took a sip of my cold water, trying to calm the blood that was flowing to my face.

"Last one done buys Ramen for brunch." Utau suggested. Kukai nodded as I choked on my water.

"What?! B-Brunch? You're going to eat all of this, wait an hour, then go and have brunch?!" I asked, significantly shocked. Kukai and Utau sweat dropped in unison.

"Um… Rima, we were talking about tomorrow…" Utau said as she picked up her fork, "But hey, since you and girly boy are here, how about you 2 judge us, kay? Make sure there's no _cheating," _she said, throwing an accusing glare at Kukai who chuckled nervously.

"Sure; I'll count down. Dining utensils at the ready," I said as I leaned onto the table, ready to keep an eye on both contestants. Utau looked at her plate with hungry eyes, knowing that she would most likely win this round. I looked at my watch, reading that it was 7:00 now, "Three… two…o—" I was interrupted by my phone. I pulled it out, thinking that I'd gotten a message, but it was just my morning alarm. I shut it off as Utau huffed with exasperation, basically wanting to attack her plate full throttle.

"Okay, sorry…" I said as I got into position again, "Three… tw—" this times, everyone's phone want off. Utau growled with frustration as she whipped out her phone, forcefully pushing the 'ok' button as did Nagihiko and Kukai. I sighed, wondering if I'd be interrupted yet again.

"_Okay." _I said earnestly, "Three…" I looked around, making sure no one was going surprise us or interrupt me, "Two…" Utau and Kukai were staring daggers at there full plates, leaning in with anticipation, "O—"

Two people to our left jumped out of there seats, yielding guns, "Everybody get down! This is a robbery!" They yelled. Utau's eyes turned to flames as she growled loudly in frustration, somewhat representing a rabid dog. She flew back, pressing her back against the seat before standing up, both palms of the table, and getting out of the booth. She began walking towards the two robbers, one a girl and one a male. Half way there, she turned to us.

"You coming?" she asked, jolting us out of our dazes. We all nodded and stood up from our seats, walking to stand by Utau.

"_**My Heart: Unlock!"**_

"Character Transformation: Seraphic Charm!"  
"Character Transformation: Sky Jack!"  
"Character Transformation: Clown Drop!"  
"Character Transformation: Beat Jumper!"

Everyone around us was shocked beyond belief. Except for one teenage girl, around 16 years old with thick, wild, dark brown hair, wearing glasses covering her tan face and adorning hipster clothing (I think she was from America), who fangirling worse than Tadase or Nagihiko's fangirls, "Oh my god, no way! The cast of Shugo Chara! OMG, mom, look! They're real! There's Nagihiko and Rima and aw, I bet they're on date!" Nagihiko and I both sweat dropped as my face warmed up, though the girl kept ranting, "I knew it, I knew it! They're real! Jeez, being in Anime is so cool, especially because, I mean, look at Kukai and Nagihiko! Hot damn—"

"Angel Cradle."Utau said softy. She turned to us three, motioning for us to plug our ears. Once we did this, she began to sing. I could hear her voice muffled a little, and began to have the urge to go to sleep. I shook my head, shaking off the drowsiness. I closed my eyes tight, trying my best to block out her angelic lullaby. After about 30 seconds, someone started shaking me slightly. I opened my eyes and unplugged my ears to see that the criminals weren't knocked out, but everybody else in the diner was fast asleep. They unplugged their ears, obviously taking the hint that they needed to block out her singing.

"You little brat, I'll show you—" the man aimed his gun at Utau, but I was faster.

I whipped my ropes skillfully as they wrapped around his wrists, making him drop his gun, "Tightrope Dancer," I said nonchalantly. The woman looked at her partner with a horrified expression before turning to me, pulling out a knife, "Don't touch him!" she screamed as she lunged for me, but was knocked aside forcefully by a ball of energy, falling to a wall and crumbling unconsciously to the floor.

"Blaze Shoot," I heard Nagihiko say. I turned to him, he looked worried at the damage done to the woman, but once he noticed me staring, he winked at me. I held down the crimson that threatened to escape to my face as I turned to the man I still had trapped. I gave him the most intense dare I could manage, even more intense than the glare I had for Nagihiko. He flinched, so I tightened the ropes a little.

"Oh my god…" a drowsy voice murmured. I looked to see the nerdy hipster 16 year old sprawled on the ground, her much bigger than necessary glasses crooked as she looked up at us, "Nagi saved Rima… Too… cute…" she managed to say before she passed out again. Nagihiko and I exchanged confused looks as we both shrugged at the girl's nonsense. I averted my attention back to the man that was in my grasps.

"Is there anything we should know about?" I asked knowingly. I knew, for some reason still unknown, that he was up to more than just a robbery. He snarled at me, his face morphed into a truly hideous sight. I scoffed, "Dear god, stop making that fugly face and answer my question." I said sternly. He didn't say a word so I tightened my ropes yet again.

"I got this." I heard a voice say. We all turned at the same time to see the 16 year old American standing and awake. Again. I was annoyed that she kept waking up, and now it seemed that she was awake for good. I growled.

"Dear god, how many times are you gonna wake up?!" I asked furiously. She giggled, fixing her glasses. She was curvy (she wasn't scared to eat, that's for sure) with wavy medium length hair that looked like hell to take care of. It was almost thicker than mine (keyword:almost), and that's saying something.

"Oh, I know all about you guys; Hoshina Utau, Souma Kukai, Fujisaki Nagihiko, and Mashiro Rima!" She smiled brightly. I noticed that her Japanese was a little hard understand and had a slight accent to it. She didn't quite speak it fluently but you could tell that she knew mostly how to speak Japanese, "O.M.G! Temari, Rhythm, Kusukusu, Daichi! And then… no freaking way: Iru!" She squealed and shook like she was having a spasm, reminding me of the way Amu had acted towards Kairi and Yaya kissing. Then she calmed down, breathing loudly and somewhat resembling Yaya. She looked at Utau's character transformation and muttered, "Oh… and Eru!" She smiled again, trying to cover up her forgetfulness. I was trying to see if this girl was either a nerd or an airhead. Either way, she was annoying...

"Um…" Kukai spoke first, "H-how do you know about us?" he looked nervous, like he had something to hide and he thought this girl would know what it was. She stopped smiling and looked deep in thought.

"I… I don't think I should tell you, are that would freak you out… Like, a lot." She mumbled seriously. I rolled my eyes.

"Hey, we kind of have a robbery to take care of, so if you could let us take care of this since we have our Charas—" I began to say, but stopped once two Charas appeared from her purse that hung over her shoulder. One had her curly, blonde hair in a ponytail and was dressed as a rockstar. The other had her chocolate brown hair in ringlets that hung to her shoulders. She resembled a doctor, with the white lab coat she adorned on her tiny body.

"This is Starella," She introduced the tiny fabulous one, who winked and peace signed, "And this is Ellena," (A/N: it's pronounced 'ELLE-EN-UH'. Not 'UH-LAY-NUH') she gestured to the brunette who smirked and bowed. You could tell she mischievous, but in a good way. Iru glared at her before he face broke into a smirk and she ran over to the 1950's Chara. They did a hand shake and laughed.

"And what's your name?" Nagihiko asked politely. The girl looked at him. She just stared and stared, and I started getting that weird feeling I got towards the waitress. She was studying his face like it was last time she'd ever see it, and it was the best thing she'd ever look at. She blushed deeply, but then looked at me knowingly, probably aware that she was plucking at the wrong strings. She mouthed sorry, which made me satisfied.

"My names Bianca!" She announced, "And I'm pretty sure we have a robber to persuade!" she smiled confidently, "My Heart: Unlock! Starella, let's do it!" Starella beamed brightly.

"Ai, Ai, captain!"

A warm pink beam enveloped them. Bianca, yes the nerd that fangirled about us being the cast of "Shugo Chara" (what ever that is) can Character Transformation! This should be fun… She held up one of hands straight above her head as her long nails turned bright pink. As she did this, Starella disappeared into her chest. Her eyes, once obsidian, turned bright blue and her hair went up to match Starella's. When she dropped down to her feet, her bangs were back and she had on an outfit similar to Starella's: a frilly mini-skirt, with white high heeled boots that matched the tanktop under her shirt. Her shoulders were revealed, the top going from shoulder to shoulder.

She landed on the ground, her eyelashes long a lush form the Character Transfmoration.

"Character Transformation: Hollywood Dream!"

I still had my grasps around the male, and I out of the corner of my eye I could see the woman starting to succumb. I whipped my ropes again, grabbing a hold of her as well. I saw Bianca starting to freak out as she blushed with excitement. Her eyes were wide and hopeful, like I was the biggest celebrity in the world. I don't know how she learned about us and why she's a fan over all of us if we never met her before, but she was a little scary.

"Now, you're going to tell us what else you're up to," Utau investigated the man's eyes while the woman shrieked, so I ended up forcing a rope to cover her mouth. I felt bad about hurting them, honestly! But they were up to a major crime and I wanted to know what they were up to. The man shook his head and shouted defiant words at Utau, refusing to give out any information, and the blond quickly became quite terrifying.

"Persuasion Whisper!" Bianca was suddenly next to Utau, making her jump back a little, "What are you up to, old man? ~" she asked, or more like sang. Her voice was smooth and velvety. I swayed on the spot, suddenly having the urge to tell her that we were out eating breakfast when these arrogant morons tried to rob the diner. The man's eyes were engulfed with a look of panic as he realized he was going to blab whether he wanted to or not. Bianca was necessarily pretty, but she wasn't ugly. But it seemed when she Character Transformed with Starella, she turned pretty just by becoming more confident and glowing brighter. Her voice, now quite 'persuasive', showed that.

"We were going to blow up the Tornado Tower for a ransom at city hall!" He blurted out. He was red trying to get against my restraints. Bianca smiled smugly and walked around him like we was interrogating him in a crime scene. She stopped, stomping her heel down as she pointed an accusing finger at his nose.

"Which Tornado Tower? ~" she pulled out a notebook, "Could you maybe give me directions? I'm not from around here. ~" She started up like she was cooperating with a normal human being and striking a conversation. I rolled my eyes as he nodded and gave her directions to C13 Tornado Tower.

"Nagihiko, call the police; these people should wake up any minute." I demanded. Nagihiko nodded, and then turned to Kukai and Utau.

"You two should go check that out. If it's a major threat, call the police," he started with his leader talk. I always found that annoying but now… it was sort of cute, especially because he was in a transformation and his look had developed, a long with all of ours. Instead of me wearing my clown/jester suit, I wore a bright red tutu, a white shirt with ruffly sleeves and 3 red buttons in the top-middle, white panty-hoes, and my same shoes with white gloves that were spotted with red polka dots. My hair was put up with the red bow holding it up. But Nagihiko… man, his basically looked the same. He tan for where we lived and his body wasn't too muscular, with his lean shape and all and his brown eyes and kind smile would make you feel really welcomed… and bleaaahhkeeg he's too freaking perfect!

"You checking Fujisaki-san out, Mashiro-san?~~~~~" I heard a soft singing voice as Nagihiko whipped out his phone and began talking to the police. I turned around to see Bianca standing dangerously close to me.

"Yeah I was, but who wouldn't? He's annoying and all, but have you seen his face?" I scoffed. Not even a second after I said it I smacked my hands over my mouth as I felt my face turn brighter than a ripe tomato, "Hey, what the hell?! Who gave you the right to- to- to use that devil… that devil voice on me, you… you…." I racked my brain for the ideal insult, but nothing came! Damn it, Rima! Hanging out with Fujisaki took away your ability to spurt a comeback and hurt their feelings!

"Brilliant fangirl? Yes I know…" she said rather self righteously, making me wonder if that's what Starella was making her act like. I glanced out the window and saw Kukai climbing aboard his skateboard with Utau following suit and wrapping her arms tightly around him as they sped off to the Tornado Tower. Nagihiko snapped his phone shut and walked over to us. I saw Bianca starting to sweat and get nervous, and I knew she obviously had a crush on him from whatever she knew about us already. But even so, she felt keen in the idea of Nagihiko and I together, so she didn't want him for herself… she was so confusing!

"The police are on their way," Nagihiko said. The entire time, the man and woman were in my ropes, anxiously trying to escape. I turned to them and my power began to drain, but I was determined in making sure they got to the police office.

Nagihiko's and Bianca's transformations came undone as Bianca's face turned to the table she was sitting at, her glasses falling back on her face. Her face flooded with worry as she tripped over to an older girl, maybe 21. She was probably her sister, but she'd fallen out of her seat with to much momentum and her head was bleeding badly. Bianca went into panic mode before she finally took a deep breath.

"It's okay, Bianca-chan," Nagihiko reassured. Bianca flinched when he said her name, "The paramedics should be coming along with the police—"

"My Heart: Unlock! Come on, Ellena!" She yelled as she stood up. Dark red clouds clung to her. She closed her eyes as Ellena was placed inside her chest. Bianca's hair bounced into ringlets as her nails turned red. The same accessory that Ellena had in her hair appeared in the same spot on Bianca's hair whilst a white lab coat popped to existence. A red shirt tucked into tall black leather pants while brown high-heeled boots covered them up to her knee.

"Character Transformation: Healing Affection." She said, calmer than I thought she could ever be. She pressed her hand to her sisters wound and concentrated hard, "Curing, healing, treating alleviation!" she chanted. The blood evaporated from the unconscious girl's head as the wound made from the hard floor closed up, revealing fresh healed skin. Her Character Transformation disappeared and she looked up at me and Nagihiko.

"You two can get going. I'll make sure they don't escape." She said, gesturing to the criminals. Nagihiko and I looked at each.

"A-are you sure, Bianca-chan?" He asked, a little worry in his voice. She flinched when he said her name again.

"Yes, I'll be fine. And please don't call me Bianca-chan… it sounds really weird… " she shuttered. He chuckled and nodded, "Call be Bi-chi!"

"Thank you, Bi-chi." I said mom we finally said our good byes. But not before I squeezed the male and female tighter to make them get knocked out. Yeah, Bianca was really annoying, but she seemed like she had a caring heart and an alright personality.

The sky went from a sunny morning to overcast while the whole thing went down. As Nagihiko and I were walking out, we saw Kukai and Utau running towards us with their Character Transformations undone. We stopped in the door way as they did the same, "What are you guys doing?" I asked curiously. Kukai and Utau looked at each other and grinned before looking back at us.

"We never even got to eat! I'm fucking starving!" Utau nearly shrieked. Then, they ran into the diner while the police cars finally pulled up to the scene of a severely unsuccessful stick up. Nagihiko and I started walking towards our houses (which are on the same freaking street). As the distance between us and our homes decreased, my nervousness increased. I was with Nagihiko. All alone. Walking home. I forgot how to speak as my heart sped up annoyingly. I scowled to myself as we turned a corner.

"Are you okay, Rima-chan?" Nagihiko asked as we started walking through downtown. Just the night before, it was glowing like a Christmas tree, and now all the shops were finally opening. I flinched as I felt a small speck hit my cheek.

"Yeah, I'm fine…" I said, trying my best not to stutter, "Why do you ask?"

"You've been acting kind of…" he looked down at me while we walked, "Awkward." He finished in a simple tone. He flinched the same time I did as I felt something else hit my nose. I looked up, only to have a cursed raindrop fall right into my eye. I blinked rapidly, letting it settle in. It felt sort of refreshing, as weird as that sounds, but the cool raindrop in my eye made it feel like it was cleaner. Just as I thought that, rain started pouring down in thick sheets.

"Shit, what do we do now?" I asked as we stood there in the pouring rain. Nagihiko grabbed my hand abruptly and dragged me towards a store with an awning attached to it. We finally got there and stood under the shelter while I started to shiver. The only warmth that remained was Nagihiko's hand enclosing mine. He must have noticed me shivering, as he pulled me closer to him. My eye's widened as I stumbled and leaned on him. He caught my other hand with his other hand, so that now we were connected with both and he was hugging me close. I blushed at the sudden closeness, but it was warmer and comforting, so I let it be.

The weirdest thing was that it all happened without a word, like a soundless movie. My hair was sort of stringy from the rain as I reached up to take out my hair, letting it tumble down and add to the warmth a little. Finally, I sat down on the ground, getting more comfortable as Nagihiko did the same. Our fingers were still latched together, though it was more reassuring than flustering.

"… I've been acting awkward?" I finally broke through the silence like a knife. Nagihiko looked at me for second before smiling. He nodded and then looked out at the rain again.

"Yeah…" he took a deep breath, bracing himself for something, "Do you... Is something wrong?" He cut off his original question with another one, which sort of bummed me out because the first question might have been… nope. Even if Nagihiko did like me, we could never be an item. Because then we might fall in love. And there is no way I'm ever going to EVER fall in love. Like ever. I'm being dead serious right now, all of the relationships in my family are broken, save for my grandparents, but that's a rare thing. And the possibility of me getting my heart ripped to shreds is greater than the possibility of us living happily ever after. Besides, Nagihiko doesn't like me like that, so put that aside.

"No…" I said. Just then, I sounded like I did in 5th grade. It was weird to hear, especially because my voice was so small and squeaky. My voice is still higher pitched than anyone I know, but back then I sounded so innocent, which may have contradicted my exterior personality, "Well, I mean… my parent's are fighting again since my dad moved back in…" I mumbled, looking down. He looked back down at me, squeezing my hand.

"Why haven't they divorced yet?" he asked softly. I usually would have taken offence to this, but I knew he had intentions.

I shrugged, not knowing why, "I… I honestly don't know!" I rose my voice, getting a little annoyed at my parents stupidity, "Back before Middle School, I actually thought that they'd separate. They were being mature about my dad moving out, and they said it was for the best. It was stupid for my dad to move back in! They argue about getting a divorce, and yet they're to fucking idiotic to make it reality. I used to respect my parents, but now their stupidity is just too much!" I felt tears well up in my eyes, but I quickly blinked them back.

"It's okay Rima-chan… I'm sure they'll come to their senses…" Nagihiko said comfortingly. For some reason that made me a little madder, "I understand." He stated. I turned to him quickly, rage filling me.

"Do you?!" I screamed, "No, you don't know what it's like to have parents that don't love each other and, quite frankly, actually hate each other! You don't know anything about me!" I stopped screaming at him, expecting him to yell back at me. But he just gave me a sad smile, much to my surprise.

"Rima…" He said me name without an honorific, but I didn't care. I just watched the way my name rolled off of his lips, "I do know… My parent's divorced when I was 2." He looked down at his lap while my furrowed eyebrows fell to a sad look, "We… we're more similar than you think… Rima-chan…" His grip on my hand loosened. But I- might I add it was really out of character- grabbed it firmly. He looked at me, a little surprised, before smiling and tightening his grip as well.

"I'm so sorry, Nagihiko…" I said sincerely, "I have family memories but… you don't even have anything to fall back on…" I whispered sadly. He nodded slowly and that was the end of our little conversation.

Still in silence, the rain finally stopped, the sun appearing again as it heated the wet streets. But the cool morning air kept it at the right temperature.

He stood up first, offering a hand, "Come on, Rima-chan." He said with a heart stopping smile. I accepted his hand and stood up. We looked up to see that the sun was now a pale orange, and it was probably at least 8:00 a.m. I got a scared feeling as I thought about if I was caught sneaking back into my house. But Nagihiko's smile helped me calm down as we started to walk again.

"Hey Nagihiko?" I asked, a long delayed question making its way to my brain. He looked down at me.

"Hmm?" he hummed.

"Um… you know when you left for Europe the first year of Middle School?" I was a little sheepish. He frowned about, scrunching up his face.

"Yeah, I remember." He said slowly.

"Well… um… okay…" I don't know why I asked him that since it has nothing to do with the question I actually had in mind. _Just ask, Rima… _"Is Nadeshiko real?" I blurted out. He seemed taken aback by the question but his face soon went back to normal as he smiled weakly.

"Well it was a matter of time before you asked me that…" He mumbled as we continued walking. We turned the corner to a back alley behind a row of houses, "Well, yes… and no… I actually do have a twin sister, Nadeshiko, obviously. But she lives with my father in Europe. My mom said she could only live with him if he trained her to dance traditionally. So she's lived there since we were 6. That's also part of the reason why I went there in Middle School; because I had to visit my dad. My mom went with me to tour Nadeshiko and me around to performances. But the Nadeshiko that all of you know was actually me. My mom made me dress as my sister because of dancing, but you already know all of that…" he smiled at me. I thought for a second as we turned down a second alley to our houses, "Oh! She's visiting in a like, a month! Would you like to meet her?" he asked suddenly, surprising me. My mouth hung open as I was thinking of how to answer.

"Uh, sure! That'd be great!" I beamed at him. But I looked at him curiously as I thought he turned a little pink. I smiled, since he looked a little cute when he blushed.

"What?" I asked with a stupid, goofy voice.

"NAGIHIKO'S BLUSHING BECAUSE OF YOUR SMILE!" cheered Temari. I busted out laughing because she just appeared out of no where. I let go Nagihiko's hand and clutched my stomach, though I think I frightened Nagihiko a bit…

"Eh? What's so funny?" Nagihiko sweat dropped as I fell on the floor and started rolling around, trying to form a sentence.

"T-T-Temari just—" I started cracking up again as I began gasping for air. I guess Kusukusu was sleeping, but she came out of my purse to see who was laughing. She saw me rolling around on the ground and started giggling. Soon enough Rhythm appeared and looked just as frightened as Nagihiko did, "She just—AHAHAHAAAAAA—she just a-a-appeared!" I continued to laugh for about 5 minutes. I finally was too red to laugh anymore and I started snorting loudly. I started breathing loudly and I stood up calmly, as I continued to walk. Best way to deal with a situation like this is to just walk away. Nagihiko sweat dropped again but ran to catch up to me, falling in step with no problem.

"Oh yeah!" I noticed something, "Nagihiko, last night you called me… picky. I am not picky, what made you say that?"

Nagihiko smiled, "Well, let me see… Kirishima-kun, Derachi-kun, Soumazu-san… the list can go on, Rima. You just don't trust any boys enough to date them."

"Dating someone isn't just about trust, Nagihiko. I want to date someone who I'm compatible with, someone who I actually like that. If I dated boys that I trusted then I'd date Tadase, Kukai, you, and my cousins… gross. But I want to date someone who actually LIKES me, not the way I look… Well, scratch that, I don't want to have a boyfriend because then we'll fall in love and then once everything nice ends, the fighting will start…" I said as we arrived at the back of my house. My window was still open, and I saw through the first story window that my parents were fighting, so they luckily didn't know I was gone the entire night and then most of the morning, considering it was about 9 a.m.

"Just because your parents relationship didn't work doesn't mean that yours won't," Nagihiko advised, "If people like us thought like that—people with dysfunctional families—then we'd never have kids ourselves."

"But why risk getting your heart ripped open?" I said as I started climbing up the tree. Kusukusu floated over to me a whispered something in my ear, so I hopped off the tree, acting like I was exhausted from the slight effort. I'll explain all of that later, though…

"Because that's what makes love so thrilling; the risk of getting hurt or having the best experience of your life!" Nagihiko said as I helped me up.

"Well, I've never had a boyfriend, and I don't plan on having one now." I said stubbornly. Nagihiko chuckled.

"I've never had a girlfriend. I mean, I've had an accidental boyfriend but—"

"YOU WHAT?!" I yelled. My parents looked around and almost looked out the window before I ducked my head while pulling Nagihiko's hair down. We sat against the house, under the window. He looked frightened at what I'd asked him.

"I said I had an accidental boyfriend in 2nd grade! I was Nadeshiko and he asked me if I wanted to 'go with him', and I though he meant to go draw at the art station, then we got there and he tried to kiss me on the cheek. He said that his older brother asked girls to 'go with him' when he wanted them to be his girlfriend. So I 'broke up' with him." I starred at him for a moment or two. Then I busted out laughing, clutching my stomach again. I felt Nagihiko clamp his hand over my mouth as he smiled, "Do you want your parents to yell at you for being out?!" he yelled/whispered. I shook my head, trying to laugh through his hand but not being successful. I stomped on the ground, trying to suppress my laughter. I finally calmed down and grabbed his hand to take it of my mouth. I looked at him as I did so, and even today I don't know what happened. We just… locked eyes. I stayed frozen with his hand a few inches from my mouth as we stayed like that for awhile. My eyes explored his brown pools as I started to notice every speck of color, every wisp of golden and even black specks near the pupil. My eyes moved down to look at his lips (reluctantly of course) and noticed that they were perfect, with tiny stubble outlining his jaw. I couldn't take it anymore; I couldn't take his long perfect amethyst hair and his perfect eyes that looked like melting chocolate. So I did the one thing I could.

I put my hand on his jaw and pushed his face to the side.

I stood up and looked down at him as his face turned red, much to my satisfaction. I could tell I was crimson, but I refused to believe that Nagihiko liked me, which he didn't. I offered a hand and helped him up, "Come one, purplehead." He stood up and tapped Rhythms egg and a groggy indigo haired Chara appeared and mumbled "Chara Change."

Nagihiko scooped me up and jumped gracefully to my window, landing in my bed. He set me down once we were in there as I kicked off my shoes and jumped under my comforter. Nagihiko looked at me and then out the window, "I'll see you Monday at school," he said.

"Yeah. Thanks for everything, Nagihiko. You're a good friend." I smiled at him, "Bye." I waved as he walked towards the window.

"Bye," He waved before jumping down. I quickly kicked off my covers and crawled over to the window as he walked away with a sad look and talking to what seemed to be Temari. I closed the window with a sigh and snuggled back into bed. Kusukusu came out of her egg with a worried expression.

"Rima, why can't you just admit that you think Nagihiko likes you?" she asked softly. I turned away towards the wall and huffed.

"I would never let my heart be so weak," I mumbled, "If he doesn't, not only will it ruin one of the best friendships I have, but the whole gang's atmosphere…" I said, but tried to convince myself…

Nagihiko couldn't like me… He couldn't. Or, at least he shouldn't.

Kusukusu sighed and dragged her egg to next to my pillow, "Rima, it isn't showing weakness. It's showing trust! Just because your parents gave up doesn't mean you have to. Look at your grandparents! Plus, Nagi's parents are divorced but he still believes in love. I bet he likes you, Rima. Those moments that you just had don't just happen to anybody…" she said. I sighed; my Chara was actually giving me advice. I'd officially gotten pathetic.

"Hey! That doesn't make you pathetic," she said before crawling into her egg and dowsing off. I tried to fight it down, I really did, but my chest filled with hope that perhaps… Perhaps Nagihiko did have feelings for me.

And it felt great to let my heart dream for awhile.

* * *

Please, pretty please, read and review. Please Review?! REVIEW and you shall have eternal glory!

EDIT: yo, it's the author ;) yeah so the OC was just a filler, she won't be in any other ones. The stuff starts next chapter hooray :D but I had a person say I was... idk bragging about myself? I'm really sorry if the character bothered you (that isn't really how I act, I'm actually pretty social. Plus I don't have a sister that's 21...) but thanks for the constructive criticism for the 2 that reviewed. Now I now FOR SURE to not put in any OCs :) So, I'm taking much time doing this edit... but yeah, my eyes are actually black, and I was actually describing my ideal eyes that I will never have T_T but thanks for the reviews, your eternal glory shall arrive in T minus 5 seconds


	4. Twins and Hayao Miyazaki

_Hello there. The italicized words are in actual English where as the un-italicized words are actually in Japanese, like it's been the whole story. Also, sorry for the long update __ It was unexpected for me to stay at my moms for that long! Oh yeah, Amu may seem a little OOC but, you know, there's a reason why *winkwink*… Anyway, I hope you like the chapter! _

_**NAGIHIKO'S POV**_

"Go ahead, Mashiro-san," My teacher said. We were in English class, which Rima and I had with Kukai. We all had to make a small sentence/story/something-or-other in English, then present them to the class to see if they could understand our English or if the person presenting could even speak the other language correctly. It was Rima's turn now. She was standing at the front of class with Kusukusu whispering words of encouragement in her ears, and probably telling her how to say some of the words correctly since Kusukusu herself can speak English.

"_W-what… do… you… call it_," she began awkwardly and slowly in her high pitched voice, pronouncing each syllable with caution, "_when y-you haven't… cooked a, eeto… _egg—I mean _an_ _egg… in a… long time?" _the sentence was mangled and I didn't get the question at all. Kukai and I sweat dropped from where we sat, him in the desk behind me.

"Mashiro-san, can you please repeat the sentence without making any mistakes?" the teacher asked politely, taking notes on a sheet of paper, which I can assume was a rubric. Rima growled in annoyance, even though the teacher asked the same question to every student who made a mistake.

Rima, now knowing what to say fully, began a little faster, "_What do you call it when you haven't cooked an EGG in a long time?" _she said it all in perfect English, even though it was in a weird accent. We all waited for her to go on. Kusukusu started having a giggling fit as Rima kept a straight face and looked out to the class, finishing with, "_You cooked it a long tamago!" _There was silence in the class, save for Kusukusu's wild giggles, as everyone translated what she'd said. I was the first to bust out laughing, because it was actually funny! Kukai then started cackling loudly before he started snorting and he fell on the floor and started rolling around as everyone in the classroom started laughing loudly. The teacher was smiling and chuckling lightly.

"_That's what I expected from you, Miss Mashiro. Thank you, you may sit down,"_ she smiled at Rima who was a little pink. She sat down in her desk in front of me as I kicked her chair, still laughing.

"Good one, Rima-chan," I said, my face red with laughter as she turned to look at me. I thought I saw her eyes brighten, making my chest flutter, but it may have just been that she made an entire class of 25 laugh at a joke that she told… in a different language. She smiled and high fived Kusukusu with her pointer finger. We went through the rest of class, our 8th and last period. It was Monday, and the bell usually rang a few minutes earlier for some unknown reason. When we were leaving class, Kukai caught up with Rima and me before either of us could go through the door.

"Fujisaki, Mashiro!" He called. I turned to him from the door as Rima looked at him from her desk, "Utau was wondering if you two wanted to hang out. Amu and Tadase will be there, and Utau and Ikuto said they had some news," he said as he put his books in his bag and faced us.

I shrugged, "Sure." I didn't have anything else to do that day and it was only a Monday. We turned to Rima, who bit her lip.

"I don't know if I can, my parents are out of town and I'm not—" she began.

"Oh, come on Mashiro, I know the news is HUGE!" his eyes sparkled with excitement.

"Do you know what they are gonna tell us, Kukai?" I asked with curiosity, pointing at him. He shook his head no, but then looked at Rima.

"Fine, I'll see what they need to tell us," she said flatly. She wore her hear in a loose braid today, with her shorter pieces of hair framing her face. We all walked outside and immediately everyone stopped and starred as we 'strutted' down the hallway. I remembered how that was while I was Nadeshiko. I felt a smug smile tug at my lips as I remembered how boys would always obsess over Yaya and me. A chuckle left my throat while we walked outside, everyone going back to doing what they were before we 'interrupted'.

"So, how was breakfast on Sunday?" Rima asked. Kukai sweat dropped with disappointment as he turned to face us while he walked backwards.

"Let's just say that I had to buy Utau brunch today," Kukai said as he turned his back to us and continued to walk. He walked quickly, where as I walked in long strides and Rima shuffled slowly.

"You ditched 3rd period?" I asked in a surprised toned. He nodded nonchalantly. We turned off school grounds and ran into Amu and Tadase, who were talking about something with serious expressions. Rima noticed and cocked her head to the side, wearing an expression I'd never seen on her face before.

Really, she was this unsolved mystery to me. I've liked her since 5th grade, and even though I can see through all her facades, she still seems to be difficult to pinpoint. She was quite mean to me up to freshmen year, where Amu started hanging out too much with either Ikuto or Tadase. She'd tried to hang out with Yaya, but eventually Yaya got to busy with her younger friends who were, quite frankly, psychotic. So she lastly turned to me, or should I say, Nadeshiko. Well, my version of Nadeshiko, anyway. And lately, whenever I'm around her, I feel much more nervous. I catch myself starring at her for a ridiculous amount of time, and there these terrifying feelings I get in my stomach, heart, and knees.

Kiseki had his arms crossed and was shaking his head with disapproval. He most likely didn't like Tadase having a romantic relationship with one of his 'servants'. Tadase looked at him with a worried expression. I wonder what Tadase and Amu were talking about…

"_Tadase_, I'm disappointed that you lie to them and even yourself. Gargh, when will you tell them that you think you're—" Tadase covered his Chara's mouth hastily and looked more nervous than I've ever seen him. Amu was looking at him curiously, as were Rima and Kukai. But I had an idea on what Kiseki almost let slip.

"I-I-I-I gotta go everyone. I'll see you l-later. Goodbye!" Tadase choked out as he speed walked down the sidewalk away from us. Amu's mouth was opened and she looked on the verge of tears as she watched his figure disappear. Well, that was incredibly random. One moment they're talking, the next Kiseki makes a comment and Tadase's out of sight.

"What does he need to hide from me?" she asked as tears exploded out of her eyes. Rima jumped over to her quickly and rapped an arm around her shoulders as she gave Amu a handkerchief.

"Amu-chan…" Ran said sadly. All of her Charas looked worried, but Rima whispered something in Amu's ear that made her stop where she stood.

She was frozen for a second and then pushed Rima off like she'd had an epiphany. Rima looked at her with a knowing look in her wide eyes while Amu turned to look at her, Amu's piece of cloth clenched tightly in her fist.

"I can't tell him that if it isn't true," Amu said through clenched teeth.

"Amu, it's hypocritical to say that he can't keep secrets from you but you won't tell him that." Rima insisted.

"But it isn't true!" Amu countered. Rima just shook her head as Dia did, too.

"Fine." Rima gave in easily, which was… different, "Be that way. But it will just hurt both of you even more once you admit your feelings," she said harshly. "Let's go." She said sternly as she turned to me. I didn't noticed that I'd been looking at her the entire time, so once I'd realized, I silently scowled to myself. She walked, or more like stomped, next to me as the four of us walked to Utau's house without saying a word to each other. Rima and I would share glances every now and again, but they never held for long. I was just curious as to what Amu was hiding from Tadase, and what Tadase was hiding from Amu. It was so unlike Tadase to hide anything from anyone, so I knew it was serious. Their relationship seemed to be doing great!

As soon as walked through the door Utau tackled Kukai's lips. I cringed and ran inside, grabbing Rima's hand to save her from that horrific sight. What is it, eat your partner's lips off of their face and make your friends feel weird day? The poor girl will be too traumatized to function if she sees one more make out session. We sat down on a two person couch while Amu came in, looking like she was having another inner conflict. She sat down on a single person couch, her eyebrows furrowed in thought. Utau finally came skipping in with Kukai following suit, his girlfriend jumping up and down excitedly.

"I'm glad you guys came!" She squealed. I blinked and then looked around at Amu and Rima, who were equally… scared? Utau walked into the center of the living room and stood on the table. She started laughing maniacally and she nearly screamed, "Iiiiiikutooooo!" Almost immediately after she yelled for her older brother, he fell from the ceiling, causing us all to sweat drop as he waved at us and brushed his hair out of his eyes. Utau sighed but quickly went back to freaking out, "You guys! We're going to Greece!" she shrieked. Amu hopped up before she could even finish her sentence and it was silent for a few long seconds before she screamed. She hopped on the table, too, and they started talking at ridiculous speeds. Kukai was pretty happy about it also, because he plopped down next to me, squishing Rima and I together, and started rambling about how he was going to surf so much since it's summer and it should be really warm there. I glanced at Rima and neither of us knew what to do.

"Hmm, my grandparents live in Rome..." I heard Rima mumble, though that didn't get their attention, so I cleared my throat and looked back at Utau.

"Utau-san, um… Care to give us more information about it?" I asked, because someone can't just say 'we're going to Greece' and then you magically appear there. She calmed down a bit before the table beneath her gave way and her and Amu fell to their immediate doom. Not really, they just tumbled onto Ikuto, or would have if he didn't jump out of the way and only caught Amu. Good thing Kukai has fast reflexes and was near where they fell off because he jumped of the couch and grabbed Utau before she hit the ground.

Wow, I never thought I'd see a tomato Utau ever again after that one time she had to tell us her and Kukai were dating.

Once we all got situated _again, _Utau began to explain, "Okay, I partly lied. We might go to Greece or Rome; the destination is still getting figured out. But ever since my movie came out, people have been… er… stalking me. So Yukari wants me to lay low for awhile. She said she could fly me to Rome or Greece, or maybe even Spain! I told her it would be boring to go by myself, so she said I could obviously pay for about 10 people to go…" she was beaming at us all. I felt immensely happy to have a friend like Utau, because god knows it would be AMAZING to go to Greece or Rome or _Spain_.

"Who all would be going?" Amu asked.

"Hmm…" Utau tapped her chin before nodding, "Me, obviously, and Kukai, another obviously… Amu, Rima, Tadase, Nagihiko, and Ikuto… Yaya's coming and Kairi's dropping a college class to go…"that added up to 9, "But we can still fit one person if anyone needs someone to come along."

"When are we leaving?" I asked. Utau paused for a second before smiling again.

"In a week!"

* * *

"Mom, I'm home!" I said as I pressed the buzzer to my gate.

I had a week before we went to Greece/Rome/Spain… that is, if I was even allowed to go… There was still 2 weeks of school left, though.

I waited for a few minutes before pressing the buzzer again, "Mom…? Baaya—" I stopped dead and froze where I stood as someone opened the gate for me. Her straight hair was hanging at her waist, everything about her was identical to me except for the way her body was more feminine and her light purple hair wasn't as dark as my indigo hair. I gaped at her as she smiled at me. She had on a peach sweater tucked into black shorts that clung to her torso and waist. She adorned her signature brown leather boots. I quickly smiled broadly as we attacked each other with a hug at the same time.

"I've missed you so much…" she said in a soprano voice that I'd learned to imitate when we were 4, though my imitation had more of a girly edge to it. The truth is, my sister's actually slightly tomboyish. Looking at us, it was clear as a cloudless day that we were twins, despite our different hair colors and how hers was way longer than mine. We had the same sugar brown eyes and polite aura, as well as bone structure. She just happened to have different hair, light purple, from my mom where as I get my hair, dark indigo, from my father.

I pulled away and grabbed her shoulders, inspecting her face, "I thought you weren't supposed to come for another month!"I exclaimed, hugging her again. We were about he same height, though maybe I was just an inch taller than her. She chuckled—note: she didn't giggled; she chuckled.

"We had a change of plans, Nagi-nii!" she beamed. We pulled away again and walked through the gates, my arm flung around her shoulder as we were both flushed with happiness. There was nobody in the world that could ever understand me like Nadeshiko. I'd always felt like something was missing when she wasn't around, which is understandable because we are, after all, twins. I loved her with all my heart; I don't know what I'd do without her!

"_Who all would be going?" Amu asked._

"_Hmm… Me, obviously, and Kukai, another obviously… Amu, Rima, Tadase, Nagihiko, and Ikuto… Yaya's coming and Kairi's dropping a college class to go… But we can still fit one person if anyone needs someone to come along."_

"Hey, Nadeshiko?" I asked as we walked through the front gardens. She looked at me.

"Hmm?"

I thought for a second before smiling confidently, "How would you like to go to Greece?"

* * *

_**RIMA'S POV**_

I decided to walk home with Amu to talk to her and apologize for snapping at her. I really didn't know what came over me. Maybe it was that she had a clear shot at a happy relationship and I wanted her to go for it because I knew she could actually be content for awhile.

"Listen Amu/Rima," we said at the same time. I looked away and mumbled for her to go first, so she did.

"I… I know you're right," Amu insisted. I felt my pride swell up in my chest, "And I just needed to admit it to myself… I really like Tadase, _but you were right_… I'm in love with Ikuto… God I hate myself, because Tadase and I are so committed, and I love him… but only as a friend! Why is my love life so freaked up? I mean, I might even be…" Amu stopped abruptly and looked on the verge of tears. I slowly patted her on the back, wondering if this was a dream, because Hinamori Amu didn't just admit that she was in love with the 'perverted neko cosplay boy'…

Oh wait… she did.

I knew she just made a gigantic break through, considering Tadase was her first love, and she thought Ikuto was a complete and utter pervert unless she sincerely didn't want him to be. But lately, her and Tadase had been growing apart emotionally. At least, that's what she'd said, so I believed her.

"Listen Amu… I'm sorry I said that early, it wasn't the right time to talk to you about it," I admitted, "Why don't you come to my house? My parent's are working tonight and won't be home until tomorrow morning… Besides, we can talk and rent movies and pick out cute outfits for the trip." I said in my tiny monotone voice. I tried to put some emotion into it and make it sound enthusiastic, so hopefully that worked… Amu smiled weakly and nodded as we started to walk towards the video store.

* * *

I sweat dropped.

"Howl's Moving Castel?" I asked. Amu was holding it and looking at the cover in wonder, obviously wanting to watch that movie. But wasn't that a kids cartoon, for crying out loud?

"Um, yahh! Oh geez, don't tell me you don't like this movie!" she cried, causing many passing costumers to glance at us skeptically. I shot my signature death glare at them, causing them to cower and go back to looking at their stupid movies. I gave my attention back to Amu, having to crane my neck to look up at her. She was still considerably taller than me…

"I've never seen it." I shrugged. Amu did an anime fall, even though she knows all I watch are comedies and gag shows! She quickly hopped up grabbed my hand, her other hand holding the movie, as she pulled me into an aisle.

I sweat dropped. _Again._

"A-Amu… Er, why are we in this aisle?" I asked, slightly scarred. She looked at me like I'd just said I was going to ride an elephant to China and steal all of their pork fried rice. I turned away and glanced at her from the corner of my eye, "W-what?" I said quietly.

"Rima! You have to watch _**all of these**_!" She said in a scary, low pitched voice. She grabbed the nearest movie. If you're wondering, the stupid video store had an entire aisle for movies by Hayao Miyazaki. She showed me the cover of the one she'd snatched off the shelf.

"_Ponyo?" _I read the title to myself. She nodded before going and grabbing another one, "Castel in the Sky?" She nodded again.

"These films are truly masterpieces that you need to watch, Rima-chan!" chanted Amu's blue haired Chara.

"I agree!" Ran cheered.

"Me too, desu…" Su giggled.

"Me three! Hehe," Kusukusu shouted in a hyper tone.

Long story short, Amu emptied her entire wallet to rent nearly all of the Studio Ghibli movies. Next, to the grocery store for Ice Cream!

* * *

"COME ON! DON'T APOLOGIZE, KILL THE BASTARD!" I pointed an accusing finger at the screen. Amu and I were snuggled on the couch in my huge new house. There was a maybe a little too big sized TV and the couch was so plush that you could nearly sink into it and not really care if it swallowed you whole. Bags of junk food and tubs of ice-cream surrounded us. We'd paused halfway through the first movie so that Amu could go throw up in the toilet bowl, but I think it was just the junk food.

Amu sweat dropped, "Rima, for the last time, the Air Pirates are the _bad guys._" Amu murmured.

"Yeah well, somebody's got to kill somebody!" I said in my monotonous, delicately high pitched voice, earning yet another sweat dropped from Amu.

"They're just trying to get to Laputa… without killing anybody," Kusukusu commentated.

"Fine, I'll stop yelling. But only because Amu's feeling sick." I mumbled.

We sat until the movie was over. We'd watched Howl's Moving Castel (with Amu throwing up non stop) and had just finished Castel in the Sky, which were really good movies… but not enough deaths. Though, Amu's eyes were red from crying because… Bah, I don't even know anymore. Something about how the films were a work of art and deserved to be praised.

"Sooo…" I turned to Amu, clapping my hands to turn on the lights, "Are you feeling better? Does your head still hurt?" I asked. Amu retreated back a little further into the corner of the couch; pulling the big fuzzy blanket we shared her to cover her neck, she smiled and shook her head slowly.

"What do you think was wrong? Is it the food…?" I asked. I glanced at the food that surrounded us as Kusukusu giggled.

"Hehe, I think that's a reasonable explanation, kehehe…" I smiled at my clown Chara and poked her a little in the side. Amu smiled but shook her head. She sat up and looked at me with a serious expression on her face. I felt my eyebrows furrow in worry and my face contort to match them.

"What's wrong?" I inquired, sitting up as well. Amu cleared her throat and looked me right in my eye.

"Rima, you're my best friend," she stated. I nodded my head slowly, already knowing this information. "So what I'm about to tell you has to stay _confidential_." She said. I bobbed my head again. She took a shaky breath and grabbed my hands.

"Rima," her voice was shaky, "I absolutely hate myself right now. I chose the wrong boy to date, and did something bad, and now, not only am I in love with someone that isn't my boyfriend, but I'm…" she cut herself off and looked at the ground.

"Amu, you know you can tell me anything. I swear it will stay _confidential_." I assured her softly. She nodded and I saw I tear slip from her eye.

She looked at my, salty water falling out of her eyes like a water fountain.

"Rima, I think I'm pregnant."

* * *

Whoaaaa, what? Ahahaha! So, I told you there would be some Amuto-Tadamu drama. Bwahaha! Please Review, and once again; sorry for the late update :( It should be faster this time :) Oh, and I added the whole Hayao Miyazaki thing because Howl's Moving Castel and all of his movies are amazing. Oh, and Review please? Thank you for reading :D


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